Hundreds arrested in third night of France riots

STORY: Violence swept across major French cities a third night in a row after police shot dead a 17-year-old who has only been named as ‘Nahel M’, a teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent.

Media reports citing French officials say hundreds of people were arrested.

Rioters put up barricades in Nanterre, the working class town outside Paris where Nahel was shot dead on Tuesday.

Their advance towards police lines under a hail of fireworks was stopped as police fired round after round of tear gas.

In their anger, rioters set fire to cars and large swathes of fencing.

Police seen making their push into Nanterre ran past graffiti left by the rioters: saying “Nahel, we love you” – and below that, obscenities leveled at the authorities.

Police say the teenager fled a traffic check, in an incident caught on smartphone camera and shared on social media.

The officer who fired the fatal shot at close range is being investigated for voluntary homicide, and remains detained.

The teenager’s death has fed complaints of systemic racism and police violence, which the force denies.

Forty thousand officers were said to have deployed across France on Thursday, nearly four times the number the day before.

But there are few signs that government appeals to de-escalate the violence – including from French leader Emanuel Macron – would quell the widespread anger.

Local authorities in Clamart, 5 miles from central Paris, imposed a nighttime curfew until Monday.

Police also reported incidents linked to fires and fireworks. in Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse and Lille.

Clips shared to social media on Thursday also showed rioters in central Paris attempting to loot a Nike sportswear shop.