2023-07-01 17:15:00
– Hundreds arrested again, Champs Élysées cleared, Nahel buried
After the death of 17-year-old Nahel, serious unrest breaks out in France. The riots continued on the fifth night.
Published: 06/30/2023, 16:33Updated 8 hours ago
1311 people were arrested on Saturday night.
Video: Tamedia
France is still on the fifth night after a youth was killed by a police bullet. While the situation seemed less tense in some cities than in the previous nights, riots broke out again, especially in Paris, Marseille and Lyon. At least 427 people have been arrested nationwide, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wrote on Twitter early Sunday morning. The world-famous Parisian shopping street Champs Élysées was cleared by a large police force using tear gas, as “Le Figaro” reported. There was also renewed looting in Lyon and Nice. In view of the unrest, President Emmanuel Macron canceled his state visit to Germany.
Darmanin went on to say that despite everything, the night was quieter “thanks to the determined action of the law enforcement officers”. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne praised the forces: In view of the violence, they showed exemplary courage, she wrote on Twitter. 45,000 police officers and thousands of firefighters were deployed to protect order.
The situation in Marseille is tense but under control, the city administration announced in the evening. Groups had formed throughout the evening to cause damage, said the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture, according to “Le Parisien”. The police tried to disperse the people with tear gas.
The police presence was massively increased in Marseille, Lyon and Grenoble in particular. After an armory had previously been looted in Marseille, the police were there with armored vehicles, helicopters and special troops.
Funeral service in the mosque in Nanterre
Four days after the death of 17-year-old Nahel during a police check near Paris, friends and relatives said goodbye to him on Saturday. Around noon, according to the daily newspaper «The Parisian» a funeral service in the mosque in Nanterre near Paris. The family had wished that no press should attend the funeral service and the subsequent burial. The youth’s death sparked riots across the country.
“Le Parisien” reported that around noon a white coffin was laid out in the mosque. A security zone was set up around the building, to which only selected people had access. The newspaper “Le Figaro» wrote that hundreds of people attended the funeral ceremonies.
The 17-year-old was stopped at the wheel of a car by a motorcycle patrol in Nanterre on Tuesday. When the young man suddenly drove off, a fatal shot fell from a police officer’s service weapon. The officials had initially stated that the young people had wanted to run over them. It was only when video images of the incident, verified by the media, spread on social networks that they moved away from this portrayal and the alleged intention to kill the young person. The police officer blamed for his death has been taken into custody. A formal investigation was launched against him for premeditated homicide.
45,000 police officers on duty
On Saturday evening, France’s interior minister announced that 45,000 police officers would be on duty on Sunday night. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Saturday evening on television that security measures would be tightened, especially in Lyon and Marseille BFM TV with.
On Saturday, the extent of the devastation becomes visible: a burned-out building that housed a pharmacy in Montargis, about 100 kilometers south of Paris, was set on fire during the night. (July 1, 2023)
Photo: AFP
The incident triggered a wave of violence in France. For the fourth night in a row, there were riots from Friday to Saturday with hundreds of arrests, looting and arson attacks. 1311 people were arrested on Saturday night. The Ministry of the Interior announced this in a preliminary report on Saturday. 79 police officers were injured.
Early on Saturday morning, the ministry had spoken of almost 1,000 arrests. 1350 cars burned out. The Ministry of the Interior announced that there were a total of 2,560 fires on public roads. In addition, 31 police stations were attacked. According to the authorities, 1,900 cars burned out last night. It was the fourth straight night of rioting in France.
Macron postpones trip to Germany
Because of the ongoing riots, President Emmanuel Macron is postponing his state visit to Germany, which was planned for Monday and Tuesday. This was announced on Saturday by the Office of the Federal President in Berlin. “The visit should be made up for as soon as possible,” said the written message. Macron therefore telephoned the German Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on Saturday afternoon. He asked for the postponement. The Elysée Palace also confirmed this. Steinmeier regretted the cancellation, but he fully understands the situation in the neighboring country, the statement said. He hopes “that the violence on the streets will end as soon as possible and that social peace can be restored”.
In France, violent protests broke out four nights in a row after the death of a 17-year-old (June 30, 2023).
Photo: Aurelien Morissard (AP Photo)
The French authorities tightened their measures again on Friday to get the situation under control again. 45,000 police officers and gendarmes were mobilized, around 5,000 more than the previous night. In addition, as a new measure, bus and tram traffic across the country was stopped from 9 p.m. Several major events have also been cancelled.
In addition, the sale of fireworks, petrol cans and flammable and chemical products should be systematically prohibited. At least three municipalities near Paris, as well as several other places, imposed night curfews.
Violent riots in Marseille
Nevertheless, riots broke out again in several cities in the evening and at night. In Grenoble, Lyon and Marseille, roving groups looted shops. Demonstrators also set fire to cars and garbage cans again. In Strasbourg, rioters attacked an Apple Store and other businesses before nightfall.
According to the authorities in Marseille, the most violent riots of the night occurred. According to the police, there were 88 arrests there by around 2 a.m. A major fire broke out in a supermarket and the fire was “connected to the riots,” police sources said.
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On the fringes of the protests, a young man died after falling from a roof. According to the police and prosecutors, the incident happened on Friday night in Petit-Quevilly, in northern France, near the city of Rouen. However, there were different reports about the exact circumstances. Police and prefecture officials initially said the accident had occurred “during the looting” of a supermarket. It was later said, however, that the investigation into the circumstances was ongoing.
Mbappé calls for an end to the violence
Late in the evening, the French national team called for an end to the violence and instead to give space for “mourning, dialogue and reconstruction”. It should be possible to find “more peaceful and constructive ways” to “express oneself,” said the statement published by Captain Kylian Mbappé on the online networks.
President Emmanuel Macron had previously denounced an “unacceptable instrumentalization of the death of a young person” at a crisis meeting. Around a third of those arrested are “young, sometimes very young”. Macron appealed to parents to ensure that their children do not take part in the violent protests.
The President also called on online networks such as Snapchat or Tiktok to deal “responsibly” with the protests. “Violent gatherings” are organized on these platforms.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin at an emergency meeting in Paris (June 30, 2023).
Photo: Yves Herman (Keystone)
The riots were triggered by the death of a 17-year-old during a police check on Tuesday. A motorcycle patrol in Nanterre near Paris stopped 17-year-old Nahel at the wheel of a car in the morning. When the young man suddenly drove off, a deadly shot was fired from the police officer’s service weapon. The incident caused dismay across the country, and France has been shaken by violent unrest ever since. The police officer responsible for Nahel’s death was taken into custody. A formal investigation was launched against him for premeditated homicide.
Riots also in French overseas territories
In connection with the unrest in France, there were also riots in some French overseas territories. In Cayenne, the capital of South American French Guiana, a man was killed by a ricochet on Friday night (local time), the local authorities said. According to media reports, the man was an employee of the local administration. According to official information, Prefect Thierry Queffelec then banned the carrying of weapons for the following two nights on Friday and the transport of flammable substances until Monday.
According to a report by the regional portal France-Antilles, there was also violence in the Caribbean overseas territory of Martinique on Friday night. Around 20 to 30 hooded people threw stones at police officers in the capital, Fort-de-France. Garbage cans were set on fire in several places.
Young people also came together again in the Belgian capital Brussels on Friday afternoon in response to the death of the 17-year-old. According to a police spokeswoman, they gathered in different places after a call on social networks. In the meantime, around 50 people have been arrested preventively, it said. Already on Thursday evening there were clashes between young people and law enforcement officers in the Belgian capital.
Germany, the UK and the US called on citizens planning to travel to France to exercise caution over the unrest and updated their safety advice.
Police unions label protesters ‘pests’
With populist slogans, two major French police unions called on the protesters to stand in their way. “Now is not the time for industrial action, but for the fight against these ‘pests’,” said a statement released on Friday by the Alliance Police Nationale and Unsa Police unions. According to them, police officers are “at war”.
“Against these wild hordes, it is no longer enough to call for calm, it must be enforced,” said the two unions, adding: “Tomorrow we will be in resistance, the government must be aware of that.” Alliance Police Nationale and Unsa Police represent around half of all police officers in France.
“Police unions calling for civil war should learn to keep their mouths shut,” wrote the head of the left-wing populist party La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, on Twitter. Politicians should “get a grip on the police again”. Marine Tondelier of the Greens wrote on Twitter of a “structural problem in the police force”. The text of the police unions is a “call to civil war”.
Death of 17-year-old Nahel
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