At least 719 people were detained last night in France amid a large security deployment to quell the worst wave of social unrest in years, another challenge to the authority of President Emmanuel Macron and which once again reflected deep discontent in poor neighborhoods affected by the discrimination and lack of opportunities.
One of the most serious incidents occurred in a small town in the suburbs of Paris, L’Hay les Roses, where a burning car crashed into the mayor’s house at dawn, starting a fire.
Protests in France: “the intention was to burn the house”
The mayor’s wife and one of the two young children were slightly injured, while he, Vincent Jeanbrun, who was in the municipality to coordinate the response to the riots, denounced an “assassination attempt”.
According to the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, which is the French attorney general’s office, the first indications pointed to the fact that “the vehicle was launched with the intent to burn down the house.” French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne called the attack “intolerable”.
In response and a sign of solidarity, the Association of French Mayors (AMF) today called a protest for tomorrow in front of municipalities across the country, said the mayor of the southeastern French city of Cannes.
The mayor, David Lisnard, told the TF1 television channel that the association invited the public to join the protest.
Police advance against protesters
The Ministry of the Interior said that most of the 719 arrests made last night throughout the country were for possession of objects that could be used as weapons or projectiles.
At dawn on Saturday the figure had been 1,300 detainees, the highest since Tuesday. “Quieter night thanks to the determined action of law enforcementInterior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Twitter.
Despite this, some 45 police officers and gendarmes were injured, 577 vehicles and 74 buildings were set on fire and 871 fires were recorded on public roads, the Interior Ministry said in its daily report, the AFP news agency reported.
For the second night in a row, the minister mobilized 45,000 police and gendarmes, including 7,000 in Paris and the capital’s suburbs, with significant reinforcements in southern Marseille and in Lyon, in the center-east, the main cities affected the day before by the clashes, destruction and looting.
Why the protests broke out and the consequences
The wave of violence was unleashed by the death of a young man, Nahel, from a point-blank shot by a policeman during a traffic control last Tuesday in Nanterre, near Paris. The episode was recorded on video.
President Macron, who yesterday postponed a state visit to Germany, is experiencing his second major crisis in a few months after the demonstrations against the reform to raise the retirement age that he imposed by decree, without parliamentary passage, although with the endorsement of the constitutional Justice .
The president announced a meeting on the situation this Sunday night with his prime minister, the interior minister and the justice minister. Violence in France, which will host the Rugby World Cup this year and the Olympic Games in 2024, worries abroad.
Several European countries, including the United Kingdom, have advised their citizens not to travel to areas affected by the violence.
The Chinese consulate in Marseille urged citizens to be “vigilant and use caution” after state media reported that stones were thrown at a bus carrying Chinese tourists in that city.
Violence and anger Young people from popular neighborhoods remember the riots that shook France in 2005, after the death of two teenagers pursued by the police.
In Paris, the police deployed an important device on the avenue des Champs-Élysées, where the shop windows were protected with wooden planks and groups of young people could be seen under the watchful eye of the agents.
In an attempt to stop the spiral of violence, many French municipalities, particularly in the Paris region, have imposed a curfew and prohibited the circulation of buses and trams after 9:00 p.m.
Nahel, the 17-year-old teenager who was shot dead by a police officer on Tuesday, was buried yesterday in Nanterre, near Paris, in the presence of his mother, grandmother and several hundred people during a “very quiet” ceremony, reported AFP.
The 38-year-old police officer who shot him has been in custody since Tuesday, charged with voluntary manslaughter.
Source: Ambito
