1-7-2023 (PARIS) France deployed 45,000 police officers and deployed armored vehicles on the streets on Saturday as riots continued to rock French cities for the fourth consecutive night. The unrest stems from the fatal shooting of a teenager by a police officer during a routine traffic stop.
The violence has resulted in the destruction of buildings, torched vehicles, and looted stores. President Emmanuel Macron now faces the most severe crisis of his leadership since the Yellow Vest protests that began in 2018.
The riots have spread nationwide, affecting cities such as Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Lille, and Paris. The incident that sparked the unrest occurred in the Nanterre suburb of Paris, where Nahel M., a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan descent, was shot on Tuesday. The incident was captured on video and has reignited long-standing grievances from impoverished and racially diverse urban communities regarding police violence and racism.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin reported that 270 people were arrested on Friday night, bringing the total to over 1,100 since the start of the unrest. Among the arrests on Friday, 80 individuals were apprehended in Marseille, France’s second-largest city.
Social media images showed an explosion in Marseille’s old port area, prompting city authorities to launch an investigation. However, there were no reported casualties. Rioters in central Marseille looted a gun store, stealing several hunting rifles without ammunition. Police managed to arrest an individual found with a rifle likely obtained from the store, which is now being guarded by the authorities.
Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan called on the national government to deploy additional troops immediately, denouncing the scenes of violence and pillaging as unacceptable.
During the unrest, three police officers sustained minor injuries, and a police helicopter patrolled the affected areas.
In Lyon, France’s third-largest city, the gendarmes police force deployed armored personnel carriers and a helicopter to suppress the violence.
Darmanin issued a directive to local authorities across France, ordering the suspension of bus and tram services from 9 p.m. (1900 GMT). Additionally, he announced the deployment of 45,000 officers, 5,000 more than the previous day.
Darmanin wrote to firefighters and police officers, expressing his confidence in their efforts and emphasizing that the coming hours would be critical. He did not rule out the possibility of declaring a state of emergency, stating that the decision would be made by President Macron.
????NOW???????????? BRI ongoing intervention in Ivry-sur-Seine (94) where riots are reported#Nanterre #France #Paris #emeutes #Nahel #nael #Marseille pic.twitter.com/fXVdO5UlZv
— Eren ???????????? (@Eren50855570) July 1, 2023
In Paris, police dispersed protesters from the iconic central Place de la Concorde square on Friday night following an impromptu demonstration.
Darmanin revealed that over 200 police officers have been injured since the start of the unrest, and hundreds of rioters have been arrested, with an average age of 17.
In an unusual move, players from the national French soccer team issued a statement calling for calm. They urged an end to violence and emphasized the need for mourning, dialogue, and reconstruction.
The riots have resulted in the ransacking of numerous shops and the torching of approximately 2,000 vehicles.
As a consequence, events, including two concerts at the Stade de France, were canceled. Tour de France organizers stated their readiness to adapt to any situation as the bicycle race enters the country on Monday after starting in the Spanish city of Bilbao.
Macron, leaving an EU summit in Brussels early, convened a second cabinet crisis meeting in two days. He urged social media platforms to remove “the most sensitive” footage of the riots and disclose the identities of users inciting violence.
Darmanin held a meeting with representatives from Meta, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok. Snapchat emphasized its zero-tolerance policy towards content promoting violence.
Mohamed Jakoubi, a friend of the victim’s family who witnessed Nahel’s upbringing, stated that the anger driving the protests stemmed from a sense of injustice resulting from incidents of police violence against ethnic minority communities, many of whom hail from former French colonies. He asserted that they, too, are French citizens and against violence.
Macron denies the existence of systemic racism within law enforcement agencies.
Videos circulating on social media depict urban landscapes engulfed in flames. In Lyon, a tram was set ablaze, and in Aubervilliers, northern Paris, a depot housing 12 buses was gutted.
Tourists expressed concerns about the situation, while others expressed support for the protesters. Enzo Santo Domingo, a tourist from the United States visiting Paris, stated that racism, problems with the police, and minority communities are important topics that need to be addressed.
#KEROnews #émeutes #Paris #France #GuerreCivile #FranceRiots #FranceHasFallen
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Des émeutiers commencent à
s’en prendre à des innocents.La France est en pleine guerre civile et les autorités de plusieurs départements n’interviennent plus! pic.twitter.com/dK17XSSlLc
— ???? KERO ???? (@KERO_WEB) July 1, 2023
Some Western governments cautioned their citizens to exercise caution when visiting France.
The UN rights office in Geneva emphasized the importance of peaceful assembly and called on French authorities to ensure that the use of force by the police is nondiscriminatory. The office highlighted that this moment presents an opportunity for the country to address deep-rooted issues of racism and racial discrimination within law enforcement.
The police officer who fired the lethal shot at the teenager is currently in preventive custody under investigation for voluntary homicide, equivalent to being charged in Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions. The officer’s lawyer, Laurent-Franck Lienard, claimed that his client had aimed for the driver’s leg but was jolted when the car accelerated, leading to the officer shooting toward the driver’s chest. Lienard asserted that the officer did not intend to kill the driver.
The ongoing unrest evokes memories of the three-week nationwide riots in 2005 that prompted then-President Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency. The 2005 riots were ignited by the deaths of two young men who were electrocuted in a power substation while evading police.
