Demonstrators erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police in French streets overnight as tensions grew over the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old that has shocked the nation. More than 600 people were arrested and at least 200 police officers injured as the government struggled to restore order on a third night of unrest.
Armored police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of vehicles that had been flipped and set ablaze in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre, where a police officer shot a teen identified only by his first name, Nahel.
On the other side of Paris, demonstrators lit a fire at the city hall in the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois and set a bus depot ablaze in Aubervilliers.
Photo: AFP
In the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police sought to disperse violent groups in the city center, regional authorities said.
French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday planned to leave an EU summit in Brussels, where France plays a major role in European policymaking, to return to Paris and hold an emergency security meeting.
About 40,000 police officers were deployed to quell the demonstrations. Police detained 667 people, French Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin said.
Data from Paris police headquarters showed that 307 of those were in the Paris region.
About 200 police officers were injured, a national police spokesperson said.
No information was available about injuries among the rest of the public.
Schools, town halls and police stations were targeted by people setting fires, and police used tear gas, water cannons and dispersion grenades against demonstrators, the spokesperson said.
Darmanin yesterday denounced what he called a night of “rare violence.”
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