Paris.- At least 719 people were arrested and 45 police officers were injured in the fifth consecutive night of riots in France over the death of a teenager at the hands of a police officer, although according to the French Government it was a “quieter” night than the previous ones. precedents.
“Calmer night thanks to the resolute action of the forces of order, who have made 427 arrests since the beginning of the evening,” French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had pointed out through his Twitter account at 03:00 a.m. (0100 GMT).
Five hours later, the diagnosis of fewer incidents was confirmed by his portfolio by updating the total arrests for the night to 719, while the previous day at the same time Interior had reported 994 (subsequently raised to 1,311). .
The result of the altercations also includes 871 fires on public roads and damage to 74 buildings, figures that represent less than half of the previous day.
In order to try to maintain order, the Government had decided to maintain the extensive police force of 45,000 agents deployed on the streets, with a special presence in places such as Marseille and Lyon, who had requested reinforcements in view of the virulence of the altercations that they had suffered the preceding night.
Also in those cities the night was calmer, although scenes of tension were still seen. Likewise, in Paris, a large police contingent had to intervene to abort incidents on the Champs-Élysées avenue shortly before midnight.
The trigger for this wave of riots was the death of a 17-year-old young man of Arab descent named Nahel, who was fatally shot by a police officer as he tried to flee a police checkpoint in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris, on past June 27.
The images of the incident, recorded by witnesses, sparked strong indignation in the country, which degenerated into riots, especially in the popular neighborhoods of large cities and in the metropolitan area of Paris.
The young man’s burial was held this Saturday in Nanterre in privacy, at the wish of the family, who wanted a day of “discretion” and “recollection”.
