Police stations and town halls were set on fire in several cities. In the historic center of Marseille, the police were bombarded with fireworks by a large number of young people. Protesters also set fires and confronted police in Lyon, Lille, Sevran, Reims, Roubaix, Nantes, Orléans and the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, among others.
Protest march
In several cities there is a ban on gatherings. The situation was also tense in Nanterre, where Nahel was killed on Tuesday after a protest march earlier in the day. According to the interior ministry, 421 people were arrested across the country, 242 of them in and around Paris. Most of those arrested were between 14 and 18 years old.
The police deployed 40,000 officers across France, a quarter of them in and around Paris. In the center of the capital, the well-known Forum Les Halles shopping center was looted and rioters and looters targeted several shops on rue Rivoli.
State of emergency
The question that now arises is how long can the unrest continue. The riots that took place in France in 2005 after the deaths of two young men who had hidden from the police in an electrical substation eventually lasted for three weeks. Then a state of emergency was declared.
Last year in France, 13 people were killed by police after refusing to stop for traffic checks, most of them black or of Arab descent, a Reuters news agency tally shows. “We have experienced this injustice many times,” said councilor Karima Khatim of the Paris suburb of Le Blanc-Mesnil.
The officer who shot Nahel after an intervention later apologized to the boy’s family through his lawyer. “He’s devastated, he doesn’t really get up in the morning to kill people,” said the attorney for the officer, who was arrested on manslaughter charges. The lawyer told various media that his client allegedly aimed at Nahel’s legs and that his arrest should serve as a lightning rod to contain popular anger.
Brussels
He was also restless in the Belgian capital Brussels, especially in the vicinity of the south station. The police arrested 27 demonstrators, including 24 minors. Tram and bus traffic in the area has been blocked or diverted on police orders.