France has deployed 45,000 police and several armored vehicles to quell protests across the country over the police killing of a teenager for a traffic violation and arrested nearly 1,000 protesters.
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Protests in France entered the fourth day on Saturday following the tragic police shooting of a teenager in a suburb of Paris. The boy, Nahel, was shot dead during a traffic stop on Tuesday morning in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. Fresh riots were reported in Marseille where at least 80 people have been arrested. Violence also erupted in Nanterre on Saturday and as many as 100 arrests have been made nationwide, with several cities imposing curfews.
France has deployed 45,000 police officers last night in anticipation of a possible fourth night of unrest across the country. The authorities halted public transport in a desperate attempt to restore order. French President Emmanuel Macron has urged parents to take responsibility for underage rioters, one-third of whom were “young or very young”.
The police officer, who shot the boy, is now under custody and is being investigated for potential manslaughter, as confirmed by the local prosecutor’s office. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has arrived in Mantes-la-Jolie, around 48km west of Paris.
FRENCH Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin claimed “a much lower intensity” on Saturday on the fourth straight night of protest rallies compared to earlier days, but declared the detention of 994 more protesters overnight.
Darmanin ordered the deployment of 45,000 police officers to the streets to suppress the raging unrest, saying “the next hours will be decisive” as he called on local authorities to halt bus and tram traffic from 9 p.m. local time.
He said more than 200 police officers were injured during clashes with protesters, noting that his forces took into custody more than 900 mostly young people taking part in the rallies, estimating their average age at 17.
The French minister censured the “unacceptable violence” in the cities of Lyon and Marseille,” saying more than 80 arrests were made in Marseille alone, and that “significant reinforcements” were deployed after the city’s Mayor Benoit Payan called on the national government to immediately send additional troops to put down the protests.