3-7-2023 (PARIS) The violence that has erupted across France in response to the killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. by police has continued for five nights, with a new outbreak of unrest on Sunday. The grandmother of the deceased has called for calm, while the government has deployed 45,000 police and gendarmes, arresting 719 people overnight. Despite this, intense clashes have been reported in several cities, including Marseille. Nahel’s grandmother, Nadia, has implored rioters to stop, stating that they were using her grandson’s death as a “pretext”. Meanwhile, the home of Vincent Jeanbrun, the right-wing mayor of L’Hay-les-Roses, was attacked with a burning car, with his wife suffering a broken leg.
The killing of Nahel, who was of Algerian origin, has led to accusations of institutional racism within the French police, with rights groups claiming that minorities are singled out during stops. The protests have become one of the biggest challenges to President Emmanuel Macron since he took office in 2017. Some 7,000 police were deployed in Paris and its suburbs alone, while buses and trams in France have stopped running after 9pm and the sale of large fireworks was banned.
The unrest has raised concerns abroad, with France hosting the Rugby World Cup in the autumn and the Paris Olympic Games in the summer of 2024. The Tour de France cycling race organisers are also monitoring the situation closely. Macron has postponed a state visit to Germany that was scheduled to begin on Sunday and has called for parents to take responsibility for underage rioters. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said the average age of those arrested was just 17. A 38-year-old policeman has been charged with voluntary homicide over Nahel’s death and has been remanded in custody.
