Rioters ram French mayor’s home with burning car ‘in assassination attempt’ that injures family

Rioters rammed a burning car into the home of a mayor of a town outside Paris, injuring his wife and child in what he has branded as an ‘assassination attempt’. 

France has been rocked by a wave of protests following the death of Nahel Merzouk, 17, who was allegedly ‘executed’ by police during a traffic stop.

Police made 719 arrests nationwide by early Sunday after a mass security deployment, but overall violence appeared to lessen compared to previous nights. 

Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun wrote on Twitter that protesters had ‘rammed a car’ into his home before ‘setting a fire’ while his family slept. Following the attack, he vowed to ‘not back down’ and said his ‘determination to protect and serve the Republic is greater than ever’. 

The fast-spreading chaos is posing a new challenge to President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership and exposing deep-seated discontent in low-income neighbourhoods over discrimination and lack of opportunity.

Merzouk’s death on Tuesday has spawned anger across the country. He was laid to rest Saturday in a Muslim ceremony in his hometown of Nanterre, a Paris suburb where emotion over his loss remains raw.

Rioters rammed a burning car into the home of Vincent Jeanbrun, who is the mayor of the town of L’Hay-les-Roses, around 1.30am Sunday. The home is pictured after the attack

A French firefighter works to extinguish a burning car during the fifth day of protests following the death of Nahel Merzouk

Police made 719 arrests nationwide by early Sunday after a mass security deployment amid the fifth day of protests. Demonstrators are pictured in Paris overnight

Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun claimed protesters had ‘rammed a car’ into his home before ‘setting a fire’ while his family slept. Following the attack, he vowed to ‘not back down’ and said his ‘determination to protect and serve the Republic is greater than ever’

France burnt for a fifth night as rioters rampaged through major cities, torching cars and trashing buildings – prompting the drastic deployment of French special forces in an attempt to stop the mayhem from escalating. 

Up to 7,000 police were deployed into Paris overnight – joining a nationwide force of 45,000 officers – as the civil unrest deepened following the killing of Merzouk.

Vincent Jeanbrun (pictured) described the attack as an ‘attempted murder of unspeakable cowardice’

Jeanbrun, who is the mayor of the town of L’Hay-les-Roses, slammed the riots on Sunday after his family’s home was targeted in the latest demonstration.

‘Last night a milestone was reached in horror and disgrace,’ he wrote. ‘My wife and one of my children were injured.

‘It was an attempted murder of unspeakable cowardice.’

The protesters targeted his home around 1.30am while he was at City Hall and his wife was home with their two children, according to his statement which has been translated from French. 

Jeanbrun said he doer not have ‘words strong enough’ to describe his emotions following the ‘horror’ of the attack.

He said: ‘The only way to make what is unacceptable bearable is that all this did not happen for nothing.’

The mayor said his priority today is to ‘take care of my family’ but added: ‘My determination to protect and serve the Republic is greater than ever.’

Several schools, police stations, town halls and stores have been targeted by fires or vandalism in recent days but such a personal attack on a mayor’s home is unusual. 

Firefighters works to extinguish a burning car during the fifth day of protests

Firefighters are among the first responders who took to the streets overnight as rioters demonstrated across France

Firefighters works to extinguish a burning car during the fifth day of protests

Riot police forces secure the area in front of the Arc de Triomphe on Saturday night as protests continue in Paris

Riot police secure the area outside the Arc de triomphe as rioters assembled in Paris on Saturday night

The latest violent clashes broke out just hours after hundreds of people attended the open-coffin funeral of Merzouk, whose alleged ‘execution’ by police during a traffic stop sparked this week’s carnage.

As night fell over Paris, a small crowd gathered on the Champs-Elysees for a protest over the teen’s death and police violence but met hundreds of officers with batons and shields guarding the iconic avenue and its Cartier and Dior boutiques.

In a less-chic neighbourhood of northern Paris, protesters set off volleys of firecrackers and lit barricades on fire as police shot back with tear gas and stun grenades.

17-year-old Nahel (pictured) was shot dead by French police during a traffic stop, Tuesday

Skirmishes erupted in the Mediterranean city of Marseille but appeared less intense than the night before, according to the Interior Ministry. A beefed-up police contingent arrested 55 people there.

Nationwide arrests were somewhat lower than the night before, which Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin attributed to ‘the resolute action of security forces.’ Some 2,800 people have been detained overall since Merzouk’s death. 

Mass police deployment has been welcomed by some frightened residents of targeted neighbourhoods and shop-owners whose stores have been ransacked – but it has further frustrated those who see police behaviour as the core of France’s current crisis.

The unrest took a toll on Macron’s diplomatic standing. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s office said Macron phoned Saturday to request a postponement of what would have been the first state visit by a French president to Germany in 23 years. Macron had been scheduled to fly to Germany on Sunday.

Hundreds of French police and firefighters have been injured in the violence that erupted after the killing, though authorities haven’t released injury tallies of protesters. 

In French Guiana, an overseas territory, a 54-year-old died after being hit by a stray bullet.

On Saturday, France’s justice minister, Dupond-Moretti, warned that young people who share calls for violence on Snapchat or other apps could face legal prosecution. Macron has blamed social media for fuelling violence.

The violence comes just over a year before Paris and other French cities are due to host Olympic athletes and millions of visitors for the summer Olympics, whose organisers were closely monitoring the situation as preparations for the competition continue.

A girl ducks down as she walks past police officers preparing to disperse protesters with tear gas during a demonstration against police in Marseille on Saturday

A burning motorbike is seen in Paris during the fifth day of protests

A man runs from the smoke of tear gas during clashes between riot police forces and protesters near the Arc de triomphe on Saturday night

Clashes occur between rioters and police in Paris on Sunday amid a fifth day of protests

At a hilltop cemetery in Nanterre, hundreds stood along the road Saturday to pay tribute to Merzouk as mourners carried his white casket from a mosque to the burial site. 

His mother, dressed in white, walked inside the cemetery amid applause and headed toward the grave. Many of the men were young and Arab or Black, coming to mourn a boy who could have been them.

This week, Merzouk’s mother told France 5 television that she was angry at the officer who shot her son at a traffic stop, but not at the police in general.

‘He saw a little Arab-looking kid. He wanted to take his life,’ she said. Merzouk’s family has roots in Algeria.

Video of the killing showed two officers at the window of the car, one with his gun pointed at the driver. As the teenager pulled forward, the officer fired once through the windshield. 

The officer accused of killing Merzouk was given a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide.

Thirteen people who didn’t comply with traffic stops were fatally shot by French police last year, and three this year, prompting demands for more accountability. 

France also saw protests against police violence and racial injustice after George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota.

French riot police officers walk next to a vehicle upside down during the fifth day of protests

People gather to protest against the death of 17-year-old Nahel, who was shot in the chest by police in Nanterre on June 27

A French firefighter works to extinguish a burning car during the fifth day of protests

Police officers detain a person during the protests

Riot police forces clash with demonstrators near the Arc de Triomphe

A person reacts while a police officer holds a baton during the protests

Riot police were pictured tonight marching through the streets of Paris near the Arc de Triomphe as violence spread across France for a fifth night 

The GIGN or National Gendarmerie Intervention Group, which was also dispatched, is France’s top hostage rescue unit and has already arrived in Marseille to reinforce police

The reaction to the killing was a potent reminder of the persistent poverty, discrimination and limited job prospects in neighbourhoods around France where many residents trace their roots to former French colonies – like where Merzouk grew up.

‘Nahel’s story is the lighter that ignited the gas. Hopeless young people were waiting for it. We lack housing and jobs, and when we have (jobs), our wages are too low,’ said Samba Seck, a 39-year-old transportation worker in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.

Clichy was the birthplace of weeks of riots in 2005 that shook France, prompted by the death of two teenagers electrocuted in a power substation while fleeing from police. One of the boys lived in the same housing project as Seck.

New violence targeted his town this week. As he spoke, the remains of a burned car stood beneath his apartment building, and the town hall entrance was set alight in rioting Friday.

‘Young people break everything, but we are already poor, we have nothing,’ he said. Still, he said he understood the rioters’ anger, adding that ‘young people are afraid to die at the hands of police.’

Police officers patrol in front of the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees in Paris on Saturday night

A French firefighter works to extinguish a burning motorbike in Paris on Saturday night

Some 7,000 police were deployed across Paris on Saturday evening. Pictured: riot cops near the Arc de Triomphe

Riot police in Paris were braced for another night of mayhem as violence broke out again across France on Saturday night

France entered a fifth day of rioting after the government last night deployed 45,000 police and several armoured vehicles to tackle the worst crisis of President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership since the Yellow Vest protests

Riots broke out in Marseille, southern France, on Saturday where police fired tear gas canisters into the crowds to disperse them

People wait next to the entrance of Mont Valerien cemetery on Saturday, where Nahel Merzouk will be laid to rest, in Nanterre

Police officers walk as they try to disperse protesters with tear gas during a demonstration against police in Marseille on Saturday

The unit’s national police equivalent, the RAID – Research, Assistance, Intervention and Dissuasion – troops were also deployed and have been seen standing guard in the city on Saturday

People put down flowers on Saturday to honour teenager Nagel Merzouk, who was shot dead by police on Tuesday

At least 37 were arrested in Paris near the Champs-Elysées on Saturday, where police vans were seen parked outside luxury stores in one of the capital’s most high-profile areas

Protesters were seen running from launched tear gas canisters during clashes with police in Marseille on Saturday

People flocked to Nanterre on Saturday to pay their respects to dead teenager Nahel Merzouk

A general view of Mosque La Defence, where the funeral prayers for Nahel Merzouk were held on Saturday, in Nanterre, France

The justice minister said on Saturday 30 per cent of those detained by police were minors, some as young as 13. 

‘It’s not up to the state to raise children,’ said the minister, Eric Dupond-Moretti, lashing out at parents of underage rioters.

Macron on Saturday scrapped an official trip to Germany after a fourth straight night of rioting and looting across France in defiance of a massive police deployment. 

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s office said Macron phoned to request a postponement of what would have been the first state visit by a French president to Germany in 23 years. 

Macron had been scheduled to fly to Germany on Sunday evening for the visit to Berlin and two other German cities.

Macron’s office said he spoke with Steinmeier and, ‘given the internal security situation, the president (Macron) said he wishes to stay in France over the coming days.’

‘Nahel’s story is the lighter that ignited the gas. Hopeless young people were waiting for it. We lack housing and jobs, and when we have (jobs), our wages are too low,’ said Samba Seck, a 39-year-old transportation worker in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.

Clichy was the birthplace of weeks of riots in 2005 that shook France, prompted by the deaths of two teenagers electrocuted in a power substation while fleeing from police. One of the boys lived in the same housing project as Seck.

Like many Clichy residents, he lamented the violence targeting his town, where the remains of a burned car stood beneath his apartment building, and the town hall entrance was set alight in rioting this week.

‘Young people break everything, but we are already poor, we have nothing,’ he said, adding that ‘young people are afraid to die at the hands of police.’

Protesters flee as police tries to disperse them with tear gas during a demonstration against police in Marseille today

Protesters set alight a bin during clashes with police in Marseille today

Police was patrolling around the Arc de Triomphe tonight as France is heading into its fifth night of riots

Mounia, mother of the French teenager killed by police, waves to the crowds during a memorial march for her son Nahel on Thursday

Graffiti reading Justice for Nahel is seen on a wall nearby the mosque in which his funeral prayers were held today

Protesters were running or covering their eyes after police launched tear gas canisters during clashes in Marseille today

Security measures taken by shops and boutiques on the Champs-Elysees following the fourth night of unrest triggered by the fatal police shooting of a teenager in Paris

A girl ducks down as she walks past police officers preparing to disperse protesters with tear gas during a demonstration against police in Marseille

Despite the escalating crisis, Macron held off on declaring a state of emergency, an option used in 2005. 

But government ratcheted up its law enforcement response, with the mass deployment of police officers, including some who were called back from vacation.

France’s justice minister, Dupond-Moretti, warned today that young people who share calls for violence on Snapchat or other apps could face legal prosecution. Macron has blamed social media for fueling violence.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said 700 shops have been damaged and promised government support for owners.

‘There is no nation without order, without common rules,’ he said.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has ordered a nationwide nighttime shutdown of all public buses and trams, which have been among rioters’ targets. He also said he warned social networks not to allow themselves to be used as channels for calls to violence.

French Recherche Assistance Intervention Dissuasion (RAID) special police was standing next to a burning bin in Marseille today

Police officers walk past a shut souvenir store in Paris tonight as they prepare for expected riots

Shops were getting ready for a potential fifth night of unrest as they put grilles in front of shop windows

Protesters were rubbing their eyes after they came in contact with tear gas in Marseille today

Another shop built a wooden structure outside their storefront to protect the windows

For the funeral, several hundred people lined up to enter Nanterre’s grand mosque, which was guarded by volunteers in yellow vests, while a few dozen bystanders watched from across the street.

A group of around 30 young men who stood guard at the entrance asked people not to take pictures. 

‘We aren’t part of the family and didn’t know Nahel but we were very moved by what has happened in our town. So we wanted to express our condolences,’ one man among the mourners, who declined to give his name said. 

Some of the mourners, their arms crossed, said ‘God is Greatest’ in Arabic, as they spanned the boulevard in prayer.

Salsabil, a young woman of Arab descent, said she had come to express support for Nahel’s family. ‘It’s important we all stand together,’ she said.

Marie, 60, said she had lived in Nanterre for 50 years and there had always been problems with the police.

‘This absolutely needs to stop. The government is completely disconnected from our reality,’ she said.

The family stressed that the funeral should be intimate and away from the cameras.

Several French riot police vehicles were present at demonstrations in Marseille today

A RAID special police unit member watches over cars in Lille today

Police officers speak to a youth in front of the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees in Paris as France heads into a fifth night of riots

RAID unit members were keeping an eye on the crisis in Lille today

Shops like Dubail used discreet grilles to secure their Champs Elysee shops

Police officers in Marseille launched tear gas against people taking part in the demonstration today

Family and friends were viewing the open coffin before it was taken to a mosque for a ceremony and later burial in a town cemetery.

A hearse was reported to have left the funeral parlour at midday and was later taken to the Ibn Badis mosque before his burial in the Mont Valérien cemetery.

The funeral proceedings finished at 3.30pm and was marked by ‘reflection and without incidents’, a witness said.

The warm Saturday afternoon setting seemed far removed from the nights of violence in the streets that have left windows smashed and vehicles charred across the country.

Many in the crowd either knew Nahel, or identified with him. Most were young and male, and many were Arab or black.

After four days of chaos, there was near-silence at the cemetery.

During the demonstration in Marseille, police detained and questioned a men

The Tag Heuer shop on the Champs Elysees put barriers up outside the windows today

A couple was seen walking between police officers and protesters in the streets of Marseille which were filled with tear gas today

People walk next to a car burned during clashes between protesters and riot police in Nanterre, near Paris, France

Some attendees could be seen wearing ‘Justice for Nahel’ t-shirts. As the crowd pressed through the cemetery gates, the police were nowhere to be seen.

For all the significance of the day, only a few people were seen filming with mobile phones.

The teenager’s killing was captured on video, which was crucial in the swift detention of the police officer involved.

But at his burial, some journalists were chased away.

‘Men first,’ an official in suit and tie declared to dozens of women waiting to enter the cemetery. But Nahel’s mother, dressed in white, walked straight inside to applause, and headed toward the grave.

The crowd had grown for hours, first at the mosque where prayers were held, then at the cemetery.

From time to time, the word ‘martyr’ could be heard.

Inside the cemetery gate, the white casket was lifted above the crowd and carried toward the grave. The men followed, some holding little boys by the hand.

People gather in Marseille to protest against the death of 17-year-old Nahel, who was shot in the chest by police in Nanterre on June 27

Other shops completely shut their doors as they secured entrances

Graffiti reading Justice for Nahel is seen on a wall nearby the mosque in which his funeral prayers were held today

Large glass doors leading into the Zara shop were covered up, as were the windows

As they left, some wiped their eyes. Others looked blank, shattered. Some offered warm greetings to acquaintances.

A few carried folded prayer rugs. Some looked frustrated, striding alone back into the streets.

As the funeral attendees began to scatter, other parts of Paris enjoyed a summer weekend, with tour groups and cafe-goers just a few miles away.

Near the cemetery, a Parisian who identifies as Arab and gave only his partial name, Sid Ali, for fear of retaliation by police or authorities, said he is not sure Nahel’s killing and the violent unrest will change anything.

‘Paris has burned a bit, no?’ he said. ‘Let’s see if the police will change their ways as the days pass.’

It has also been revealed what both French policemen who pulled over 17-year-old driver Nahel said as his passenger has broken his silence on the alleged execution that has sparked outrage and riots across France. 

The passenger who was with Nahel in the car at the time of the shooting shared a video of his comments and said he has come forward to share his story because he wanted to ‘establish the truth’.

Firefighters extinguish fires set on trash cans under riot police’s protection following looting and violent demonstrations last night

A police officer has been handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide and placed in provisional detention following killing of Nahel on Tuesday 

The passenger claimed the first officer put his gun to Nahel’s head and told him: ‘Don’t move or I’ll put a bullet in your head.’

He claims the second officer said: ‘Shoot him’, before the first then struck him with the butt of his gun again. This forced Nahel to release the break.

The second officer, the passenger claims, then fired, alerting Nahel to put his foot on the accelerator. At 17, Nahel was too young to have a driving licence.

The passenger released footage on social media saying ‘there are a lot of lies on social media’ and that he would tell ‘the story from A to Z’.

The young man – who was in the car that had Polish number plates – said they borrowed the vehicle and went for a drive around Nanterre but ‘weren’t under the influence of any alcohol or drugs’.

He said they were in a bus lane when they noticed police on motorbikes following behind, eventually stopping them. 

He said one officer came to the window and told Nahel: ‘Cut the engine or I’ll shoot you.’ He claimed the officer struck Nahel with the butt of his gun, before a second arrived and did the same.

A man gestures next to a burning container in Paris as protests grip France yet again

A group of police officers walk as people protest following the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer

‘I saw him in pain, he trembled,’ the young man said. ‘We hit a barrier.

‘I was afraid. I got out of the vehicle. And I ran away. I thought they might shoot me. So I ran.’ 

‘I’m shocked at what happened in front of me to my friend,’ he concluded.

Dalhaimi, 53, who claims his cousins were friends with Nahel, told Le Parisien: ‘It feels good for us Muslims to come together to share our pain. I hope Nahel will enter paradise.’

Nicole, a 50-year-old neighbour of Nahel’s grandmother, told the newspaper she was sad and angry over Nahel’s death, who she said spent a lot of time with his grandmother.

Britain’s Foreign Office also issued an alert to the two million Britons set to travel to France over the summer, with officials now imploring tourists to take out travel insurance as they claim it is more important than ever. 

It comes after a police officer was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide and placed in provisional detention following the killing.

Prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude ‘the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.’ 

France’s interior ministry said 1,311 people had been arrested Friday, compared with 875 the previous night, in violence which it said on Twitter was ‘lower in intensity’.

A tear gas is thrown as people protest against the death of 17-year-old Nahel, who was shot in the chest by police in Nanterre on Tuesday

Emergency workers put out the flames on a vehicle set on fire during violent protests over night

Firefighters extinguish a bus burned during clashes between protesters and riot police in Nanterre, near Paris

A gunman opened up on police and a weapons shop was looted during the escalating riots.

An officer in Villeurbanne, near Lyon, described how ‘gunfire started’ as a patrol entered a council estate where tower blocks had been set alight in the early hours of Saturday.

‘We were forced to flee – it was a matter of life and death,’ he said. ‘Three officers suffered minor wounds, but it could have been far worse.

‘We were forced to shoot back with a tear gas grenade launcher, at the risk of tearing a rioter’s head off,’ said the policeman, who asked not to be identified by name.

Officers suffered wounds to the legs and groin, prompting a local police spokesman to say: ‘We have crossed a red line. We’ve not seen this kind of thing before here, and it’s of deep concern.’

After the marauding gangs of rioters clashed with police again, Macron is now facing calls to impose a state of emergency.

Looters ransacked some of France’s major cities as local police declared they were now at ‘war’ with ‘savage hordes of vermin’ – with officers from two of the country’s biggest policing unions now threatening to revolt. 

France’s national football team – including international star Kylian Mbappe, an idol to many young people in the disadvantaged neighbourhoods where the anger is rooted – have pleaded for an end to the violence.

Smoke rises after violent protests swept France again last night as emergency services scrambled to act amid the clashes

Emergency personnel survey the scene of a burnt out building – which housed a pharmacy – in Montargis s this morning, which was set alight overnight during continuing protests

Raid policemen arrest a man during clashes with police on the Lyon streets as violence continues to erupt in France

Last night, firefighters were seen desperately hosing down a burnt bus as unrest continued in France

‘Many of us are from working-class neighbourhoods, we too share this feeling of pain and sadness’ over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel, the players said in a statement.

‘Violence resolves nothing. There are other peaceful and constructive ways to express yourself.’

They said it is time for ‘mourning, dialogue and reconstruction’ instead.

This week’s rioting is the worst France has seen in years and puts new pressure on Macron, who appealed to parents to keep children off the streets and blamed social media for fuelling violence.

Last night saw continued riots were looters were seen rampaging through the streets of Marseille, Lille and Paris, amid claims some broke into a gun shop and stole hunting rifles while others ransacked a police station. Cars, buses and government buildings have been set alight and fireworks have been launched at police.

There were more than 3,800 fires on public roads last night, while more than 500 buildings were set alight.

Hundreds of police and firefighters have been injured, including 79 overnight, but authorities haven’t released injury tallies for protesters.

Nanterre Mayor Patrick Jarry said that France needs to ‘push for changes’ in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Despite repeated government appeals for calm and stiffer policing, Friday saw brazen daylight violence, too. An Apple store was looted in the eastern city of Strasbourg, where police fired tear gas, and the windows of a fast-food outlet were smashed in a Paris-area shopping mall, where officers repelled people trying to break into a shuttered store, authorities said.

In the face of the escalating crisis that hundreds of arrests and massive police deployments have failed to quell, Macron held off on declaring a state of emergency, an option that was used in similar circumstances in 2005.

Instead, his government ratcheted up its law enforcement response, with the mass deployment of police officers, including some who were called back from vacation.

Two restaurant employees seen putting out a fire set by demonstrators during the protests on Friday

Firefighters were called to several sites to put out fires as France was lit up in the wake of more protests

There were more than 3,800 fires on public roads last night, while more than 500 buildings were set alight

A protester walks by a burning car during clashes with police in Le Port, French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, on June 30

A firefighter puts out the flames on a torched car amid another night of protests in Paris, France

Firefighters put out the flames on a vehicle set on fire during violent protests last night

Darmanin ordered a nationwide nighttime shutdown Friday of all public buses and trams, which have been among rioters’ targets. He also said he warned social networks not to allow themselves to be used as channels for calls to violence.

‘They were very cooperative,’ Darmanin said, adding that French authorities were providing the platforms with information in hopes of cooperation identifying people inciting violence.

‘We will pursue every person who uses these social networks to commit violent acts,’ he said.

Macron, too, zeroed in on social media platforms that have relayed dramatic images of vandalism and cars and buildings being torched. Singling out Snapchat and TikTok, he said they were being used to organize unrest and served as conduits for copycat violence.

The police officer accused of killing Nahel was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide. Preliminary charges mean investigating magistrates strongly suspect wrongdoing, but need to investigate more before sending a case to trial. Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache said that his initial investigation led him to conclude that the officer’s use of his weapon wasn’t legally justified.

Nahel’s mother, Mounia, told France 5 television that she was angry at the officer, but not at the police in general. ‘He saw a little Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life,’ she said.

‘A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children’s lives,’ she said. The family has roots in Algeria.

Police officers wait in front of a looted shop as they patrol in Lyon streets during violent protests on Friday night

Officers inspect a looted shop after violent riots swept France again last night

A person passes by a looted shop in a Lyon street during violent protests over night

Race was a taboo topic for decades in France, which is officially committed to a doctrine of colorblind universalism. In the wake of Nahel’s killing, French anti-racism activists renewed complaints about police behavior.

‘If you have the wrong skin colour, the police are much more dangerous to you,’ said a young man, who declined to be named, adding that he was a friend of Nahel’s. 

Thirteen people who didn’t comply with traffic stops were fatally shot by French police last year. This year, another three people, including Nahel, died under similar circumstances. The deaths have prompted demands for more accountability in France, which also saw racial justice protests after George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota.

This week’s protests echoed the three weeks of rioting in 2005 that followed the deaths of 15-year-old Bouna Traoré and 17-year-old Zyed Benna, who were electrocuted while hiding from police in a power substation in Clichy-sous-Bois.

Eric Ciotti, the head of the Republicans party said his country ‘is on the edge of a precipice’ and that ‘we must wage a merciless war against violence and proclaim a state of emergency in all affected areas’, the Telegraph reported, as he launched a political broadside against Macron.

Domestic intelligence seen by French newspaper Le Monde has also warned the president that riots could become increasingly ‘widespread’ and continue for the ‘coming nights’.

French police have said that they are currently ‘at war’ with ‘savage hordes of vermin’, The Telegraph reported after violence continued throughout the evening. 

Two of the country’s biggest police unions have threatened a revolt unless Mr Macron restores order.

Firefighters extinguish a bus burned during clashes between protesters and riot police in Nanterre

France deployed 45,000 officers backed by light armoured vehicles to tackle a fourth straight night of violent protests on Friday night

A firefighters walks by a vehicle set on fire during violent protests in Tours, France

They said: ‘Today the police are in combat as we are at war. Tomorrow we will be in resistance and the government should be aware of this.’

The comments come off the back of claims by the unions, Alliance Police, Nationale and UNSA Police suggested that the response so far from Mr Macron’s government had been far too weak.

They wrote: ‘Faced with these savage hordes, calling for calm is no longer sufficient, it must be imposed!’ 

It comes as British tourists were warned about travelling in France as the country imposed curfews and traffic shutdowns to try and quell nationwide rioting.

The Foreign Office on Friday updated its travel advice as a response to the violence, saying: ‘Some local authorities may impose curfews. Locations and timing of riots are unpredictable.

‘You should monitor the media, avoid areas where riots are taking place, check the latest advice with operators when travelling and follow the advice of the authorities.’

Widespread looting has also taken place in Marseille, with France Bleu Provence reporting that four hunting rifles were stolen from an armory during the riots in Marseille. 

A woman is searched by riot police as people protest near Opera Garnier in Paris

Protesters set a container on fire amid the unrest in France following the death of a  teenager

A group of police officers walk during a protest in Nanterre, outside Paris, France, Saturday, July 1

At least 1,311 people are thought to have been arrested by law enforcement officers since last night

Rioters rampaged through the streets of France for a fourth night. The map above shows where the main incidents took place

A riot policeman walks past two burnt out vehicle as rioters set France on fire yet again 

Tensions between youths and police have reached boiling point, with the French journalists reporting that the elite tactical unit, RAID, has been deployed in areas of the country to try and halt the violence.

French riot police officers patrol during a demonstration in Caen, north-western France. French President Emmanuel Macron has announced measures including more police and urged parents to keep minors off the streets as he battled to contain nightly riots.

One store manager described having seen ’30 determined kids’ and assures that his stock ‘is no longer secure’, however, police have said that no ammunition was taken.

One individual was arrested with a rifle likely coming from the store, police said. The store was now being guarded by police. 

Authorities earlier banned demonstrations in the city set for Friday, and encouraged restaurants to close outdoor areas early. They said public transport would stop at 7 pm

‘The next hours will be decisive and I know I can count on your flawless efforts,’ Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote to firefighters and police officers, seeking to quell the unrest that has been breaking out after nightfall.

He asked local authorities to halt bus and tram traffic from 9pm across France and later said 45,000 officers from the police forces would be deployed on Friday evening, 5,000 more than on Thursday.

Armed police officers stand guard during riots following the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police

Protesters run from launched tear gas canisters during clashes with police in Lyon, south-eastern France

Protesters clash with CRS riot police at the Porte d’Aix in Marseille, southern France yesterday

French anti-riot police officers stand guard after a group of protesters lit fires in Bordeaux

British tourists were today warned about travelling in France as the country imposed curfews and traffic shutdowns to try and quell nationwide rioting

Asked on TF1’s main evening television news programme on Friday whether the government could declare a state of emergency, Darmanin said: ‘Quite simply, we’re not ruling out any hypothesis and we’ll see after tonight what the President of the Republic chooses.’

Macron reportedly left a European Union summit in Brussels early to chair a second cabinet crisis meeting – the French equivalent of a Cobra meeting – in two days. 

He has asked social media to remove ‘the most sensitive’ footage of rioting and to disclose identities of users fomenting violence.

The French president told parents to keep their children at home after it emerged young people accounted for a third of the arrests made.

He said: ‘It is the parents’ responsibility to keep them at home and therefore it’s important for everyone’s peace of mind that parental responsibility is fully exercised. It’s not the republic’s job to replace fathers and mothers.’ 

Darmanin met representatives from Meta, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok. 

Snapchat said it had zero tolerance for content that promoted violence. A friend of the victim’s family, Mohamed Jakoubi, who watched Nahel grow up, said the rage was fuelled by a sense of injustice after incidents of police violence against minority ethnic communities, many from former French colonies.

‘We are fed up, we are French too. We are against violence, we are not scum,’ he said.

Mr Macron said social media was fuelling copycat violence, and that platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok needed to remove ‘the most sensitive content’.

He said: ‘We sometimes have the feeling that some young people are living in the streets of the video games that have intoxicated them.’

The President also urged parents to keep teenagers at home, rather than let them out looking for trouble.

French riot police stand guard during clashes in Lyon

A protester moves a metal barrier during a demonstration in Caen

Tensions have spilled into other cities after tensions reached boiling point today

Firefighters put out a burning car during protests in Lille

‘It is the parents’ responsibility to keep them at home,’ said Mr Macron. ‘And therefore, it is important for everyone’s peace of mind that parental responsibility can be fully exercised.’

Fresh pleas from French footballing icon Kylian Mbappe have also called on protesters to stop the chaos, saying that there are ‘other peaceful and constructive ways to express yourself’.   

The PSG forward issued a statement which read: ”Violence solves nothing, even less when it inevitably and tirelessly turns against those who express it, their families, loved ones and neighbours. 

‘It is your property that you are destroying, your neighborhoods, your cities, your places of fulfillment and proximity. In this context of extreme tension, we cannot remain silent and our civic conscience encourages us to call for appeasement, awareness and accountability.’

In Nanterre on the outskirts of the Paris protesters torched cars and buses, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police following an earlier peaceful vigil.

The interior ministry said 79 police posts were attacked overnight, as well as 119 public buildings including 34 town halls and 28 schools.