An employee is seen behind the broken windows of a supermarket following a fourth consecutive night of rioting in France sparked by the death of teenage driver Nahel by a police bullet, in Talence, south-western France on July 1, 2023. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)
Paris: Rioting and looting raged in cities around France for a fourth night despite a huge police deployment and 1,311 arrests, as family and friends prepared on Saturday to bury the 17-year-old Nahel M. whose killing by police unleashed the unrest and forced the French president to cancel an important trip abroad.
France's Interior Ministry announced the new figure for arrests around the country, where 45,000 police officers fanned out in a so-far unsuccessful bid to quell days of violence that was triggered after the teen's death on Tuesday.
Despite an appeal to parents by President Emmanuel Macron to keep their children at home, street clashes between young protesters and police raged on. About 2,500 fires were set and stores were ransacked, according to authorities.
A picture taken on July 1, 2023 shows the burnt roller shutter at a betting, tobacco shop and coffee bar following a fourth consecutive night of rioting in France sparked by the death of teenage driver Nahel by a police bullet, in Talence, south-western France. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)
The violence in France was taking a toll on Macron's international commitments. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeir's office said that Macron phoned on Saturday to request a postponement of what would have been the first state visit by a French president to Germany in 23 years. The trip, supposed to officially start on Monday, would have seen Macron travel to Berlin and two other German cities.
President Macron on Saturday informed Berlin he was postponing a state visit to deal with the urban rioting that has rocked France. 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."
The move is hugely embarrassing for Macron who earlier this year was forced to postpone a visit by Britain's King Charles III to France due to the protests over pensions.
Nahel's funeral ceremony began in the Paris suburb of Nanterre where he lived, with a large crowd gathering at the local cemetery in a tense atmosphere, an AFP reporter said.
The family wanted to be as intimate as possible, and far from the cameras. A ceremony is scheduled for early afternoon at the mosque in Nanterre and the interment will then take place in the giant Mont Valerien cemetery in the area.
In a rare intervention on a social issue, the French national football team, many of whose top players are of minority background, joined calls for an end to the clashes.
"The time of violence must give way to that of mourning, dialogue and reconstruction," the team said in a statement posted on social media by captain and Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe.
Les Bleus said they were "shocked by the brutal death of young Nahel" but asked that violence give way to "other peaceful and constructive ways of expressing oneself".
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that overall the scale of violence was less intense than previous nights but there was still intense rioting in certain areas including the cities of Marseille, Lyon and Grenoble, with bands of often-hooded rioters pillaging shops.
Provisional ministry numbers released early Saturday said 1,350 vehicles and 234 buildings had been torched overnight, and there had been 2,560 incidents of fire set in public spaces.
The ministry also said 79 police or gendarmes had been injured.
The police officer accused of killing Nahel was given 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.
