???? Live: French police arrest over 900 people in fourth night of riots

Issued on: 01/07/2023 – 09:31Modified: 01/07/2023 – 09:37

• The 17-year-old victim, identified only as Nahel M., was shot at point-blank range by a police officer on Tuesday morning in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. He was driving a yellow Mercedes when he was pulled over for traffic violations.
• Police initially reported that he was shot after driving his car at police, but this was contradicted by a video that rapidly went viral across social media and was later authenticated by AFP. The footage shows the two policemen standing by the stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at the driver. A voice is heard saying, “You are going to get a bullet in the head.” The police officer then appears to fire as the car abruptly drives off before gradually coming to a stop. 
• The incident has sparked four nights of violent unrest in the capital and cities across France that have seen protesters clash with police.

08:12am: French police arrest 994 people in fourth night of riots

French police arrested 994 people nationwide during a fourth consecutive night of rioting over the killing of a teenager by police, the interior ministry said Saturday.

France had deployed 45,000 officers overnight backed by light armoured vehicles and crack police units to quell the violence over the death of 17-year-old Nahel, killed during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb on Tuesday.

03:40am: Nahel’s family asks for their privacy to be respected at the funeral on Saturday

The family of Nahel M. have requested that journalists and the public stay away from the funeral scheduled to take place in Nanterre on Saturday.

03:00am: Unrest spreads to French overseas terroritories

Riots have erupted in French Caribbean territories to protest the police shooting death of a teenager in a Paris suburb, with at least one person killed as people set fire to dumpsters and damaged buildings.

The worst violence so far was in French Guiana, where authorities said that police officers came under fire and that a stray bullet killed a 54-year-old government worker late Thursday in the capital, Cayenne.

Columns of thick black smoke rose above some neighboorhoods in Cayenne, turning streets hazy as police tried to quell protesters in the small territory on the shoulder of South America. Authorities urged calm as the territory braced for another possible night of rioting.

Officials said Friday that the man who was killed worked in the government’s mosquito control office and was on his balcony when he was hit by the bullet.

“(It’s) a level of violence that is difficult to understand,” Public Safety Director Philippe Jos told reporters.

French Guiana’s prefect, Thierry Queffelec, said businesses and public transportation would shut down early on Friday evening, and he announced a temporary ban on the sale and transportation of gasoline at night. He also said some 300 officers would be deployed Friday night along with drones and helicopters.

02:30am: Marseille amongst French cities worst hit by violence Friday night

Friday night’s arrests included 80 people in the southern city of Marseille, France’s second-largest.

Social media images showed an explosion rocking Marseille’s old port area. City authorities said they were investigating the cause but did not believe there were any casualties.

Rioters in central Marseille looted a gun store and stole some hunting rifles but no ammunition, police said. One individual was arrested with a rifle likely from the store, police said. The store was now being guarded by police.

Key developments from Thursday, June 29:

Despite the presence of security forces, looting took place Friday night in the cities of Lyon, Marseille and Grenoble, with bands of often hooded rioters pillaging shops.

Protesters also set fire to cars and trash bins.

But during a visit to Mantes-la-Jolie west of Paris, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said early Saturday morning that the night’s violence had been of “much less intensity”, with 994 arrests nationwide and pockets of tension in Marseille and Lyon in particular.

President Emmanuel Macron left early from an EU summit in Brussels on Friday to return to France. Addressing a crisis meeting of ministers, he said “additional means” would be mobilised by the interior ministry to deal with the violent protests.

He urged parents to take responsibility for underage rioters, one-third of whom were “young or very young”.

He also denounced the “unacceptable exploitation of a death of an adolescent” in some quarters and vowed to work with social networks to curb “copycat violence” spread via services such as TikTok and Snapchat.

Read yesterday’s liveblog to see how all the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters and AP)