A man walks past a wall lit by a burning barricade, with a graffiti reading “Police kill” (in French), in central Lyon, central France, on June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani) Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
A group of police officers advance during a protest in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris, France, on July 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly) Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
People run away during a riot with police in central Lyon, central France, on June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani) Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Although the situation seemed somewhat calmer than on previous nights, the riots rocked several cities across the country.
Firefighters in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the shooting took place on Tuesday, put out fires set by protesters, which left charred remains of vehicles littering the streets. In the neighboring suburb of Colombes, protesters overturned rubbish bins, setting up makeshift barricades.
Looters entered a gun shop at night and made off with some parts, and a man carrying a hunting rifle was later arrested, police said. In the southern port city of Marseille, officers arrested nearly 90 people as groups of protesters set cars on fire and smashed shop windows to rob inside.
Buildings and vehicles were also vandalized in the eastern city of Lyon, where a third of the roughly 30 arrests made were for theft, police said. Authorities reported fires in the street after an unauthorized protest with more than 1,000 people held hours earlier.
At around 3:00am, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told cable television BFMTV that 471 arrests had been made overnight.
The incident that killed the 17-year-old, who was identified only by his first name, Nahel, was caught on video, stoking tensions between police and young people living in social housing complexes and deprived neighborhoods. .
Nahel’s burial is scheduled for Saturday, according to the mayor of Nanterre, Patrick Jarry, who noted that the country has to “drive changes” in these slums.
Despite the government’s repeated calls for calm and reinforcement of the police operation, on Friday there were also violent acts in broad daylight. An Apple store was looted in the eastern city of Strasbourg, where police fired tear gas, and at a Paris shopping mall, the windows of a junk food joint were smashed and officers barred protesters from entering a closed store. , according to the authorities.
In some French overseas territories there were also episodes of violence.
On the small Indian Ocean island of Réunion, some 150 police officers were mobilized after protesters set garbage cans on fire, hurled projectiles at police and damaged cars and buildings, authorities said. In French Guyana, a 54-year-old person died after being hit by a stray bullet Thursday night when protesters fired on officers in the capital, Cayenne, according to officials.
FUENTE: Associated Press
