In total, 157 arrests were made overnight, according to the Interior Ministry, below the peak of 3,880 arrests recorded on the violent night of June 30, and two police stations were attacked, among other damage.
Some 45,000 officers were deployed across the country to deal with the violence, fueled by discontent over discrimination against people with roots in former French colonies and living in low-income neighborhoods. Nahel, the young man killed last Tuesday, was of Algerian origin and was shot in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre.
Across the country, 297 vehicles were set on fire overnight, as well as 34 buildings.
A burning car crashed into the mayor’s house in the Paris suburb of L’Hay-les-Roses over the weekend, an unusually personal attack amid fires and vandalism against police stations and town halls.
French President Emmanuel Macron has blamed social media for the spread of unrest and called on families to take responsibility for their teenage children. Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told France Inter radio that parents who delegate responsibility “out of disinterest or deliberately” would be prosecuted.
The mayor, Vincent Jeanbrun, said his wife and one of his children had been injured and accused the government of doing too little too late. Blaming social media or parents, he claimed, was a way to cover up a bigger problem.
“The basic ingredients are still there. Explosives have gone off all summer for years, preventing people from sleeping, driving them crazy, ”he told BFM television on Monday. “Summer after summer we are powerless.”
FUENTE: Associated Press
