France experienced a slightly calmer night of rioting Saturday as the government reportedly deployed 45,000 police officers to restore order.
“Rioting across France appeared to be less intense on Saturday, as tens of thousands of police had been deployed in cities across the country after the funeral of a teenager of North African descent, whose shooting by police sparked nationwide unrest,” according to Reuters.
As previously reported, the rioting erupted after the French police killed a young speeding motorist during a June 27th confrontation.
The BBC reported that the youth, who had “been in trouble before and was known to police,” was “fatally shot in the chest, point-blank, at the wheel of a Mercedes car for driving off during a police traffic check.”
Watch video of the shooting below (*Graphic content):
This is the moment 17 year old Nahel M was shot dead at point blank range by a French policeman in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. The killing has led to three consecutive nights of rioting across France. pic.twitter.com/J5osn9CnNi
— 5Pillars (@5Pillarsuk) June 30, 2023
Following the teen’s death, Black Lives Matter-equivalent riots broke out across France, leading to hundreds of damaged cars and buildings, in addition to hundreds of arrests.
“Rioters have torched 2,000 vehicles since the start of the unrest. More than 200 police officers have been injured, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Saturday, adding that the average age of those arrested was 17. Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti said 30% of detainees were under 18,” Reuters notes.
“More than 700 shops, supermarkets, restaurants and bank branches had been “ransacked, looted and sometimes even burnt to the ground since Tuesday,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said. In Marseille, where 80 people had been arrested on Friday, police said they had detained 60 people.”
See footage from the riots below:
#FranceRiots: A building engulfed in flames collapses in a residential area next to people on the street. Cities in France have been burning for days in ongoing race riots. pic.twitter.com/Qb5wK05hZu
— Andy Ngô ️ (@MrAndyNgo) July 2, 2023
Meanwhile, the police aren’t bending the knee like they might have been forced to do in the United States. They’re being direct in their disdain for the rioters.
“Today police officers are at the front line because we are at war. Faced with these savage hordes, it’s no longer enough to call for calm, it must be imposed. Now is not the time for industrial action but for fighting against these ‘vermin,'” the country’s top two police unions said in a statement last week.
French police said they were “at war” with “savage hordes of vermin” on Friday night as France was rocked by violent waves of riots and looting.
Full story: https://t.co/P2LUpsFerS pic.twitter.com/j0fbKVqKR4
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 1, 2023
French President Emmanuel Macron has for his part chosen to take a middle of the road approach by both condemning the June 27th shooting but also condemning the riotiong.
“Nothing, nothing justifies the death of a young man. I would like to express the emotion of the entire nation at the death of young Naël, and give his family of our solidarity and the affection of the nation,” he last Wednesday to reporters, according to a translation by CNN.
“We need calm for justice to carry out its work. And we need calm everywhere because the situation we can’t allow the situation to worsen,” he added.
#FranceRiots: The Croix-Blanche shopping center in the Paris banlieue (suburb) of Mée-sur-Seine was completely destroyed in the race riots. pic.twitter.com/kQ8VPTqXfc
— Andy Ngô ️ (@MrAndyNgo) July 2, 2023
Two days later, Macron accused the rioters of exploiting the youth’s death.
“Mr. Macron condemned the violence of the last three days ‘with the greatest firmness’ and said Nahel’s death had been used to justify acts of violence – calling it an ‘unacceptable exploitation of the adolescent’s death,'” according to the BBC.
The riots have reportedly been so bad that Macron was forced to cancel “a long-planned state visit to Germany to deal with the worsening turmoil,” Politico reported.
“Given the internal situation, the president has indicated that he wishes to be able to stay in France for the next few days. The two presidents therefore agreed to postpone the visit to Germany to a later date,” a statement from the French government reads.
France is burning. An apartment fire was started in Grigny. pic.twitter.com/49Odv6iCXx
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 2, 2023
As for the officer who shot the youth, he was “handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide Thursday,” according to NBC News.
Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache reportedly said his initial investigation has led him to conclude “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met” in the shooting.
“Under French law, preliminary charges mean investigating judges have strong reason to suspect wrongdoing, but allow time for further investigation before a decision is made on whether to send the case to trial. The police officer has been placed in provisional detention, according to the prosecutor’s office,” NBC News notes.
Rioters fire an rocket propelled grenade at a French police station.
If this is not civil war, we don’t know what is. #FranceRiots #FranceHasFallen #franceViolence #Paris #civilwar #parisriots pic.twitter.com/VAZfkJ8IWa— anuj kumar singh (@sanuj42) July 2, 2023
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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