???? Live: Third night of violent clashes between police and protesters in France, hundreds arrested

Issued on: 30/06/2023 – 06:39

• 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 in Nanterre 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 so far caused two nights of violent unrest in the capital and cities across France that have seen protesters clash with police. Authorities said at least 150 people were arrested overnight.
• France’s interior minister said 40,000 police officers will be deployed on Thursday night to quell further outbreaks of violence and the teenager’s suburb has been placed under curfew unil Monday.
• A silent march was set to take place in Nanterre on Thursday to honour Nahel, however, police and angry protestors clashed alongside the famlies tribute.

4:05am: 421 people arrested nationwide, according to Le Figaro

According to Le Figaro newspaper, there has been so far 421 arrests nationwide, more than half of them in the Paris region with the majority aged between 14 and 18 years old.

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3:45am: France’s interior minister Gérald Darmanin who deployed 40,000 police officers, is following the situation closely from the National police headquarters.

3:10am: France engulfed in a third night of riots with unrest across major cities including Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse and Lille.

Forty thousand police officers were deployed across France – nearly four times the numbers mobilised on Wednesday – but there were few signs that government appeals to de-escalate the violence would quell the widespread anger.

In Nanterre, the working-class town on the western outskirts of Paris where 17-year-old Nahel M. was shot dead on Tuesday, protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police following a peaceful vigil. Protesters scrawled “Vengeance for Nahel” across buildings and as night set a bank was lit on fire before firefighters put it out and an elite police unit deployed an armoured vehicle.

In central Paris, a Nike shoe store was broken into, and 14 people were arrested and 16 more were arrested with stolen objects after store windows were smashed along the rue de Rivoli shopping street, Paris police said.

National police said on Thursday night that officers faced new incidents in Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse and Lille, including fires and fireworks.

Videos on social media showed numerous fires across the country, including at a bus depot in a suburb north of Paris and a tram in the eastern city of Lyon.

In Marseille, France’s second city, police fired tear gas grenades during clashes with youths in the tourist hot-spot of Le Vieux Port, the city’s main paper La Provence reported.

1:40am: Mayor of Paris reacts to violent protests

“It’s time for everyone to calm down. And for justice to do its necessary job”, wrote the mayor of Paris, Ariel Weil, on Twitter. The mayor shared images of a Nike shop in Châtelet Les Halles being vandalised, where several groups of people were present during the night.

1:10am: Firefighters tell Parisians to only call if there’s an emergency while they respond to protests.

12:40am: More than 100 people have been arrested so far, says Interior Minister

More than 100 people have been arrested across France as the unrest continues for the third night, according to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.

He expressed support for “our police officers, gendarmes and firefighters who are doing a brave job”

12:00am: Mother of French shooting victim says officer ‘saw an Arab face’

The mother of a French teenager whose killing by a police officer has sparked riots said Thursday she thought the death was racially motivated but she did not bear a grudge against the force as a whole.

“I don’t blame the police, I blame one person: the one who took the life of my son,” Mounia told the France 5 channel in her first media interview since the shooting on Tuesday morning.

“I have friends who are officers. They are completely behind me… they don’t agree with what happened,” she said.

She said the 38-year-old officer, who has since been charged with voluntary homicide, had other ways of controlling her son, who was at the wheel of a powerful Mercedes without a licence.

“He didn’t need to kill my son. A bullet? So close to his chest? No, no,” the single mother, described as a worker in the medical sector, told the channel in tears.

The officer “saw an Arab face, a little kid, and wanted to take his life,” she said.

“How long is this going to go on for? How many other children are going to go like this? How many mothers will find themselves like me?” she added.

Mounia led a march through the suburb of Nanterre, west of Paris, where she lived with her son on Thursday which ended with protesters clashing with police.

11:30pm: Police officer who shot teen apologises to family while in custody

The policeman who killed a French teenager in a Paris suburb on Tuesday, sparking violent protests across the country, has apologised to the family while in custody, his lawyer said.

“The first words he pronounced were to say sorry and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family,” Laurent-Franck Lienard told BFMTV late Thursday.

“He is devastated, he doesn’t get up in the morning to kill people,” Lienard said. “He didn’t want to kill him.”

Lienard said the policeman was “extremely shocked by the violence of this video”.

The officer has been charged with voluntary homicide and remanded in custody.

Lienard said he would on Friday appeal his client being placed in custody.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters and AP)