France continued to witness large-scale violence on the fourth day as young rioters clashed with police officers, vandalised public property and looted several shops, including an Apple retail store.
The unrest showed no signs of abating, triggered due to the tragic police killing of a teenager of North African descent earlier this week.
Riots first broke out in Nanterre, the working-class town on the western outskirts of Paris, where the 17-year-old boy, Nahel M, was shot dead by a police officer during a traffic stop on Tuesday. The officer has been handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide.
Nahel died from a single shot through his left arm and chest while driving off after being stopped by police. The police officer who shot the victim said he did so as he feared he or other people would get hurt, Nanterre public prosecutor Pascal Prache said.
The teenager was known to police for previously failing to comply with traffic stop orders, Prache added.
Widespread arson and looting occurred in several parts of the country as President Emmanuel Macron stopped short of declaring a state of emergency and instead, blamed video games for the spread of unrest and urged parents to keep teenagers at home in a bid to quell rioting.
The country’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said early on Saturday that 270 people were arrested on Friday night, bringing the total to more than 1,100 since the unrest began. The average age of each of them arrested is just 17 years old.
Here are the top points of what unfolded in France during the riots so far:
In the eastern city of Strasbourg, an Apple store was ransacked by rioters who entered from another side of the store despite the police blocking access to a shopping mall where the store was located, fearing vandalism.
A group of youngsters broke open the store’s windows, forcing regular shoppers to take refuge inside different shops in the mall. Police were forced to use teargas in a bid to dispel the young rioters from the Apple store.
“They broke two of the store’s windows, and we saw gangs of young people going in and coming out, in and out, trying to steal display items,” Corentin Flinck, who works in a neighbouring shop, told AFP.
Meanwhile, Friday’s evening performance at Strasbourg opera house was cancelled after the entrance to the building was vandalised.
In Marseille, France’s second-largest city situated in the south, riots continued for the second night as youngsters hurled projectiles at the police, set fires and looted shops.
On Friday evening, rioters vandalised a gun shop and made off with weapons. Police later arrested a man carrying a hunting rifle. Till now, 90 arrests have been made in the city.
Two off-duty police officers were injured after they were attacked by a group of 20 people the previous night. One of the cops was stabbed.
In Lyon, France’s third-largest city located in the east, rioters again clashed with police in the suburbs, setting fires and pelting stones at police officers deployed to control the violence.
Police arrested 31 people after they thwarted attempted looting of shops following an unauthorised protest against police violence that was attended by over 1,300 people on Friday.
Violence not only gripped the French mainland but also spread to the country’s overseas territories. In French Guiana, a 54-year-old died after being hit by a stray bullet during clashes between rioters and police forces in Cayenne, the island’s capital.
Protesters set garbage bins ablaze, damaged cars and buildings and threw projectiles at police on the small Indian Ocean island of Reunion.
The French government said it was looking at all options, including declaring a state of emergency, to restore order. The current situation is similar to the riots in 2005 when then-President Jacques Chirac imposed a state of emergency.
Law enforcement response was further scaled up with another 5,000 personnel deployed in a bid to quell the riots. So far, 45,000 police officers and armoured vehicles have been deployed at places where the violence is erupting.
All public buses and trams were ordered to shut down at night by Darmanin, the country’s Interior Minister, following widespread arson.
Emmanuel Macron attended a second cabinet meeting since returning from Brussels where he was there to attend a European Union summit.
He has asked social media giants to take down “the most sensitive” footage of the unrest and disclose the identities of those fomenting violence.
Darmanin also met representatives from Meta, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok and reiterated the same to them to take down disturbing content related to the riots.
Meanwhile, Nahel, the teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent, is scheduled to be buried on Saturday, according to Nanterre Mayor Patrick Jarry.
His mother, Mounia M, said she was angry at the officer, accused of pulling the trigger, at his son but not at the police in general.
“He saw a little Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life,” she told France 5 television, adding that justice should be “very firm”.
“A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children’s lives,” she said.
Several countries, including the US and the UK, have issued their updated travel advisories to their people travelling to France in view of the prevailing situation.
“Since June 27, riots have taken place across France. Many have turned violent. Shops, public buildings and parked cars have been targeted. There may be disruptions to road travel and local transport provision may be reduced,” the UK Foreign Office said.
“You should monitor the media, avoid areas where riots are taking place, check the latest advice with operators when travelling and follow the advice of the authorities,” it said.
The US also issued a similar travel advisory asking its nationals to steer clear of trouble spots and follow local media regarding the unrest.