Key events
Nearly 1,000 arrested overnight
Jonathan Yerushalmy
Nearly 1,000 people in France were arrested and 80 police injured during a fourth night of unrest triggered by the fatal police shooting of a teenager, but officials claimed the situation was calmer than on the previous night.
Forty-five thousand police officers, including special forces, were deployed to respond to rioting across the country on Friday night, with the situation in two major cities – Marseille and Lyon – highlighted as particular chaotic, with buildings and vehicles torched and stores looted.
The ministry of the interior reported 994 were arrests made throughout France overnight, while 79 police and gendarmes were injured and 2,560 fires on public roads recorded. Despite this, the ministry said the protests were “of a lower intensity compared to the previous night”.
More than 80 arrests were made in Marseille, according to the interior ministry, and “significant reinforcements” were sent after the mayor, Benoit Payan, called on the national government to immediately send additional troops.
“The scenes of pillaging and violence are unacceptable,” Payan tweeted late on Friday, after police clashed with protesters.
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the ongoing unrest in France, which flared nationwide after Nahel M, a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan descent, was shot by police on Tuesday during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.
His death, caught on video, has reignited longstanding complaints of police violence and racism.
Nearly 1,000 people were arrested and 80 police injured during the fourth night of protests.
Forty-five thousand police officers, including special forces, were deployed to respond to rioting across the country on Friday night, with the situation in two major cities – Marseille and Lyon – highlighted as particular chaotic, with buildings and vehicles torched and stores looted.
However, officials claimed the situation was calmer than on the Thursday night.
France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, met with police in the early hours of Saturday and denounced the “unacceptable violence in Lyon and Marseille” where public demonstrations were banned and public transport halted.
“It’s the republic that will win, not the rioters,” he said.
We’ll bring you the latest updates throughout the day.
#France #riots #live #minister #rioters #win #arrested #fourth #night #unrest #France
