The French government said rioting and looting had calmed as it kept up a heavy security deployment to try to quell the unrest that has exploded in the five days since a fatal police shooting of a teenager.“Quieter night thanks to the resolute action of the police,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin wrote on Twitter early on Sunday. Some 719 arrests were made overnight compared with 1,311 on Friday, and the number of fires also more than halved, according to the ministry. About 50 of the 45,000 police officers deployed across France to quell the rioting were injured, far fewer than in previous nights. Reinforcements included units specialising in urban violence. Armoured vehicles were deployed in Marseille and Lyon, where looting in the city centres was particularly bad. Police also blocked off the Champs Élysées in Paris to try to prevent the luxury shops there from being ransacked. About 150 town halls or municipal buildings have been attacked across France in recent days, the president of the association of mayors told AFP.Nahel, a 17 year-old of North African descent whose last name has not been made public, was shot by police on Tuesday after being held at a traffic stop. Nadia, the dead boy’s grandmother, on Sunday called for calm after five consecutive nights of violence. “The people who are rioting, I’m telling them to stop,” she told BFMTV.Despite the unrest, central Paris was functioning normally on Sunday, although a host of events had been cancelled in recent days. Luxury group LVMH said on Sunday that it would call off the menswear show for its high-end fashion brand Céline.“A fashion show in Paris, while France and its capital are grieving and bruised, seems from my own point of view, inconsiderate and totally out of place,” designer Hedi Slimane wrote on Instagram.
It is the third episode of violent protests that Macron has faced since being elected president in 2017, after the gilets jaunes movement that began in 2018 over a proposed fuel tax and a series of protests this year over his unpopular pensions reform.The fatal shooting of Nahel has stoked a wave of anger that began in Nanterre, the Paris suburb where he lived, and spread to cities and towns across France.It has exacerbated tensions between the police and young people in low-income areas that are home to minorities and immigrants, who face racial profiling by police and discrimination in housing and job opportunities, according to official studies.
The outcry grew quickly after a video of the incident was shared on social media, showing no apparent immediate threat to the two officers who were trying to stop the teenager’s car. Preliminary charges of voluntary homicide have been filed against one of the officers involved and he is in pre-trial detention, a rare step in such cases in France.The rioters have often targeted symbols of the state such as town halls and police stations. In a troubling escalation, the home of the mayor of Parisian suburb L’Haÿ-les-Roses was attacked on Saturday night by unidentified individuals who sent a burning car towards the residence. No one was hurt and police are investigating an attempted murder.“A line was crossed,” Laurent Nuñez, Paris police prefect, said of the attack, speaking on BFM TV. Despite the lower levels of unrest overnight “we remain extremely focused, no one is crying victory yet”, he added. Prime minister Élizabeth Borne, who travelled with Darmanin, described the attacks on mayors as “intolerable”.
A private funeral for Nahel took place on Saturday at a hilltop cemetery in Nanterre, and a ceremony was held at a nearby mosque.In Nanterre, a demographically mixed area that includes the business district La Défense and large high-rises of social housing, ordinary life continued as residents went about their daily routines and dined on sunny café terraces.“I support the family of Nahel, but I am against the violence and breaking things,” said Yamid Bensoussan, a waiter at a local restaurant. “Most people here feel that way.”
As expected, the comments for the article are turned off. Like every time viewers might have different opinions than what Financial Times would want them to.
The killing is just a lid taken off the volcano bubbling inside…RIP
Can any French person tell me what they actually want? I get they’re unhappy about someone being killed unjustly but normally when you protest you protest with some form of goal or demand or seeking some specific change.
At this point the army might have to get involved.
c’est la vie
All that over a criminal. It’s insane.
Honestly don’t see an issue. That’s the reason for insurance
“I’m mad as hell, and twitter isn’t enough!” riots.
People get delusioned with their distractions.
Time for a serious response, mass arrests, jail time, deportation of whoever possible, and for the ones not possible, programs to assimilate.
Deportation after paid for damages. Riots would stop 1 axons after announcement
11 comments
The French government said rioting and looting had calmed as it kept up a heavy security deployment to try to quell the unrest that has exploded in the five days since a fatal police shooting of a teenager.“Quieter night thanks to the resolute action of the police,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin wrote on Twitter early on Sunday. Some 719 arrests were made overnight compared with 1,311 on Friday, and the number of fires also more than halved, according to the ministry. About 50 of the 45,000 police officers deployed across France to quell the rioting were injured, far fewer than in previous nights. Reinforcements included units specialising in urban violence. Armoured vehicles were deployed in Marseille and Lyon, where looting in the city centres was particularly bad. Police also blocked off the Champs Élysées in Paris to try to prevent the luxury shops there from being ransacked. About 150 town halls or municipal buildings have been attacked across France in recent days, the president of the association of mayors told AFP.Nahel, a 17 year-old of North African descent whose last name has not been made public, was shot by police on Tuesday after being held at a traffic stop. Nadia, the dead boy’s grandmother, on Sunday called for calm after five consecutive nights of violence. “The people who are rioting, I’m telling them to stop,” she told BFMTV.Despite the unrest, central Paris was functioning normally on Sunday, although a host of events had been cancelled in recent days. Luxury group LVMH said on Sunday that it would call off the menswear show for its high-end fashion brand Céline.“A fashion show in Paris, while France and its capital are grieving and bruised, seems from my own point of view, inconsiderate and totally out of place,” designer Hedi Slimane wrote on Instagram.
It is the third episode of violent protests that Macron has faced since being elected president in 2017, after the gilets jaunes movement that began in 2018 over a proposed fuel tax and a series of protests this year over his unpopular pensions reform.The fatal shooting of Nahel has stoked a wave of anger that began in Nanterre, the Paris suburb where he lived, and spread to cities and towns across France.It has exacerbated tensions between the police and young people in low-income areas that are home to minorities and immigrants, who face racial profiling by police and discrimination in housing and job opportunities, according to official studies.
The outcry grew quickly after a video of the incident was shared on social media, showing no apparent immediate threat to the two officers who were trying to stop the teenager’s car. Preliminary charges of voluntary homicide have been filed against one of the officers involved and he is in pre-trial detention, a rare step in such cases in France.The rioters have often targeted symbols of the state such as town halls and police stations. In a troubling escalation, the home of the mayor of Parisian suburb L’Haÿ-les-Roses was attacked on Saturday night by unidentified individuals who sent a burning car towards the residence. No one was hurt and police are investigating an attempted murder.“A line was crossed,” Laurent Nuñez, Paris police prefect, said of the attack, speaking on BFM TV. Despite the lower levels of unrest overnight “we remain extremely focused, no one is crying victory yet”, he added. Prime minister Élizabeth Borne, who travelled with Darmanin, described the attacks on mayors as “intolerable”.
A private funeral for Nahel took place on Saturday at a hilltop cemetery in Nanterre, and a ceremony was held at a nearby mosque.In Nanterre, a demographically mixed area that includes the business district La Défense and large high-rises of social housing, ordinary life continued as residents went about their daily routines and dined on sunny café terraces.“I support the family of Nahel, but I am against the violence and breaking things,” said Yamid Bensoussan, a waiter at a local restaurant. “Most people here feel that way.”
As expected, the comments for the article are turned off. Like every time viewers might have different opinions than what Financial Times would want them to.
The killing is just a lid taken off the volcano bubbling inside…RIP
Can any French person tell me what they actually want? I get they’re unhappy about someone being killed unjustly but normally when you protest you protest with some form of goal or demand or seeking some specific change.
At this point the army might have to get involved.
c’est la vie
All that over a criminal. It’s insane.
Honestly don’t see an issue. That’s the reason for insurance
“I’m mad as hell, and twitter isn’t enough!” riots.
People get delusioned with their distractions.
Time for a serious response, mass arrests, jail time, deportation of whoever possible, and for the ones not possible, programs to assimilate.
Deportation after paid for damages. Riots would stop 1 axons after announcement