France police shooting: Hundreds arrested as riots spread after killing of teenager

Police officer apologises to family of dead boy as escalating violence runs into third night

More than 650 people were arrested in France in the third night of violence sparked by the killing of a teenager by a policeman during a traffic check, the country's interior minister announced on Friday.

Thursday night was marked by pillaging of shops, reportedly including flagship branches of Nike and Zara in the heart of the capital.

Stores were also looted and windows smashed along the Rue de Rivoli shopping street, near the Louvre museum, and at the Forum des Halles, the largest shopping mall in central Paris, where a Nike shoe store was broken into.

Several Casino supermarkets were also looted across the country, according to reports.

But the trouble also spread far outside the capital, with a police station in the Pyrenees city of Pau hit with a Molotov cocktail, according to regional authorities, and an elementary school and a district office set on fire in Lille.

In the city centre of Marseille, a library was vandalised, according to local officials, and scuffles broke out nearby when police used tear gas to disperse a group of 100 to 150 people who allegedly tried to set up barricades.

In Nanterre, the epicentre of the unrest, tensions rose around midnight, with fireworks and explosives set off in the Pablo Picasso district, where Nahel M had lived.

In the area armoured police vehicles rammed through the burnt cars, while on the other side of Paris, protesters lit a fire at the city hall in the suburb of Clichy-Sous-Bois. There were also reports of looting.

"Last night, our police, gendarmes and firefighters again courageously confronted rare violence. In line with my firm instructions, they made 667 arrests," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter.

The Elysee announced early on Friday that President Emmanuel Macron would cut short a trip to Brussels, where he was attending an EU summit, to chair a crisis meeting on the violence – the second such sit-down in as many days.

He was criticised earlier for attending an Elton John concert on the second night of riots.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Friday that the emergency cabinet meeting would review "all options" to restore order.

Asked by reporters if a state of emergency was a possibility, as some right-wing opposition parties have demanded, Ms Borne replied: "I won't tell you now, but we are looking at all options, with one priority: restoring order throughout the country".

On Friday, the transport authority said bus and tram service in the Paris region will stop at 9pm each evening until further notice.

The early shutdown was "for the safety of our workers and passengers", IDFM said following attacks on transport and public infrastructure during the violence.

'I blame one person'

In her first media interview since the shooting, Nahel's mother, Mounia, told the France 5 channel: "I don't blame the police, I blame one person: the one who took the life of my son."

She said the 38-year-old officer responsible, who was detained and charged with voluntary manslaughter on Thursday, "saw an Arab face, a little kid, and wanted to take his life".

A memorial march for Nahel, led by his mother, ended with riot police firing tear gas as several cars were set alight in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the teenager lived and was killed.

Tens of thousands of police officers have been deployed to quell the protests.

About 40,000 police and gendarmes – with elite Raid and GIGN units – were deployed in several cities overnight, with curfews issued in municipalities around Paris and bans on public gatherings in Lille and Tourcoing in the country's north.

Despite the huge security presence, violence and damage were reported in several areas. As of 3am on Friday, at least 421 people had been arrested across the country over the course of the night, according to Mr Darmanin's team.

"There aren't any very violent confrontations in direct contact with the police, but there are a number of vandalised stores, looted or even burnt businesses," a senior national police officer said.

The police officer accused of shooting the teenager on Tuesday was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met”.

French soldiers patrol near the Arc de Triomphe after a night of clashes in Paris. EPA

Prosecutor Stephane Hardouin addresses the press in L'Hay-les-Roses, Paris, after rioters rammed the mayor's home. AFP

French soldiers near the Arc de Triomphe. EPA

Police officers stand guard in front of the Dior building on Champs Elysees avenue in Paris. Reuters

French riot police pursue young protesters on Champs Elysees avenue in Paris. Reuters

Car overturned in street amid riots in Paris. Reuters

French firefighter works to extinguish burning motorbike during fifth day of protests in Paris. Reuters

Riot officer with baton approaches protester in Paris. Reuters

Firefighter works to extinguish burning car amid rioting in Tourcoing, France. Reuters

Demonstrators run as French police officers use tear gas in Paris. AFP

Bus set alight during clashes between protesters and riot police in Nanterre, near Paris. EPA

Fireworks go off during clashes between police and protesters. Reuters

Riot police in Nanterre, France. EPA

Protesters clash with French riot police after a march in memory of Nahel. EPA

French riot police after clashing with protesters during the march. EPA

Protesters and police face off. EPA

Protesters during the march for Nahel. EPA

Nahel's mother Mounia at the march in memory of her son. EPA

French riot police during the march. Reuters

People flee tear gas fired by police during clashes with protesters at the march. EPA

A burnt-out car a day after Nahel was killed by a French police officer during a traffic stop in Nanterre. Reuters

Workers sweep up debris from a burnt-out tram destroyed during protests in Clamart, south-west of Paris. AFP

Mounia, mother of the French teenager killed by police, waves to the crowds during a memorial march for her son Nahel in Nanterre. Getty Images

Police officers clash with protesters during the commemoration march in Nanterre. AFP

A protester waves a flare during the march for Nahel. AFP

People attend the march in Nanterre. EPA

Firefighters extinguish burning vehicles during clashes between protesters and French police on June 29. Reuters

The unrest is over the killing of a 17-year-old by police in Nanterre, Paris. EPA

Riot police on patrol in Nanterre, in the north of the capital. EPA

A car burns in the suburb as riot police pass. EPA

Protesters hurl fireworks at Paris riot officers. EPA

Tear gas was used against those protesting about the death of the boy, named only as Nahel M. AFP

Firefighters and police at the scene of protests in Paris. EPA

Teenagers are arrested in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre. EPA

Fires burn in the street in Nanterre. AFP

The detained police officer’s lawyer, Laurent-Franck Lienard, told French channel BFMTV the officer was sorry and "devastated".

The officer did what he thought was necessary in the moment, Mr Lienard said.

“He doesn’t get up in the morning to kill people,” he said of the officer, whose name has not been released.

“He really didn’t want to kill. But now he must defend himself, as he’s the one who’s detained and sleeping in prison.”

The teenager's death has revived longstanding grievances about policing and racial profiling in France's low-income and multiethnic suburbs.

On Friday, the UN said France must address deep issues of racist discrimination among its police.

"We are concerned by the killing of a 17-year-old of North African descent by police in France... this is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement," UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva.

Curfew

Bus and tram services in the Paris area were shut down before sunset as a precaution to protect transport workers and passengers.

The town of Clamart, home to 54,000 people in the French capital’s south-western suburbs, said it was taking the extraordinary step of imposing an overnight curfew through Monday, citing “the risk of new public order disturbances”.

The mayor of Neuilly-sur-Marne announced a similar curfew in that town in the eastern suburbs.

The unrest extended even to Brussels, the Belgian capital and EU's administrative home, where about a dozen people were detained during scuffles related to the shooting in France.

The Belgian city's police spokeswoman Ilse van de Keere said several fires were brought under control and that at least one car was burnt out.

The shooting, captured on video, shocked France and stirred up long-simmering tension between police and young people in housing projects and other disadvantaged neighbourhoods.