Urban violence subsides, and young Nahel is buried
France faced a fifth night of violence, though less violent than the previous one. As of 3:30 am, the Home Ministry had not identified any major incidents and reported 486 arrests across the country.
For the second night in a row, the minister renewed the formation of 45,000 police and gendarmes. Here, in Paris.
AFP
A wave of violence has been sparked in several cities in France, with youth Nahel, killed by a policeman during a road test in Nanterre on Tuesday, hours after the burial of the youth, which marked the night from Saturday to Sunday. Man away from cameras.
As of 3:30 a.m., the Interior Ministry had identified no major incidents and reported 486 arrests across the country, particularly for carrying weapons or items that could be used as projectiles. “A quiet night thanks to the determined action of the police”, rejoiced Gerald Dorman, posting these figures on his Twitter account. For the second night in a row, the Minister renewed the formation of 45,000 police and gendarmes, including 7,000 in Paris and the inner suburbs, and in Marseilles and Lyon, major cities affected by significant reinforcements, clashes, destruction or looting the previous day.
Few incidents have been reported in these two cities. AFP journalists noted that especially in the famous Canebière, a large number of law enforcement, supported by the elite units of Raid and GIGN (gendarmerie), were able to disperse groups of youths who sowed chaos the previous day. “We did not see scenes of looting yesterday,” Bouches-du-Rhône police headquarters commented, counting 56 arrests by midnight.
In Paris, an important device has been deployed on the Champs-Elysées, where calls to gather have been circulating on social networks since Friday, an AFP journalist noted. Across the avenue, small youths dressed in black strolled under CRS eyes in front of shops, their storefronts protected by wooden boards. Behind the black railings, the famous Le Fouquet’s restaurant usually welcomed its customers for dinner. The last groups were evacuated before 2 am.
Macron is staying in France
Some of the most serious incidents were reported in the Paris suburbs, the starting point of the riots. However, police officers were targeted by mortar fire in Vigneux (Essonne). According to the Interior Ministry, 162 people were arrested in Paris and its suburbs as of 2:30 p.m. Over the night from Friday to Saturday, police made more than 1,300 arrests, the highest number since Tuesday.
Captured by an amateur video that contradicted the police’s initial story, the shooting of a biker and the death of Nahele during a road test in Nanterre shocked the top of the state and reverberated across the country. French borders and especially in Algeria, his family’s birthplace.
In this context, Emmanuel Macron on Saturday announced to his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, that his state visit scheduled for Sunday evening would be postponed to Tuesday. Concerned about the spiral of violence rocking the country, the head of state made a series of phone calls to mayors across the country on Saturday afternoon. In an attempt to contain it, many municipalities have introduced curfews and public transport networks have closed earlier than expected, notably buses and trams from 9:00pm in Ile-de-France.
On Saturday, a witness said Nahel was buried “very quietly, meditatively and not overflowing” in a late afternoon ceremony at the Mont-Valérien cemetery in Nanterre in front of his mother, his grandmother and several hundred people. to the AFP. In the morning, the atmosphere in front of the funeral was very tense between groups of youths and journalists whose presence the family did not want, AFP journalists noted.
“Come Break”
“May his soul rest in peace and justice,” a Nanterre woman told AFP on condition of anonymity as she left the funeral. “I came to support mother, she was the only one, poor thing”. Scenes of destruction and looting of businesses that have rocked several cities in France have shocked and angered residents.
“They came specifically to break, steal and leave”, lamented Youssef Bettahar, a trader from the Merlon shopping center in Marseille, adding, “We are very disgusted by what is happening”. During the night from Friday to Saturday, 1,350 vehicles were set on fire, 266 buildings were set on fire or damaged, including 26 town halls and 24 schools, and 2,560 fires were reported on public roads, the interior ministry said.
The police officer was charged with intentional homicide
Police and gendarmerie buildings were attacked, and 79 policemen and gendarmes were injured. Gerald Dormanin warned Saturday evening, “The next person who touches a police officer or a gendarme should know that they will be found.” The question of a state of emergency has been raised and monitored abroad, particularly as France hosts the Rugby World Cup in the autumn and then the Olympic Games in Paris in the summer of 2024.
The wave of violence, and the anger of many young people living in working-class neighborhoods against the police or the government, recalled the riots that rocked France in 2005. The 38-year-old policeman who fired the shot that killed Nahal was taken into custody Thursday afternoon on a charge of first degree murder.
AFP
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