Demonstration prohibited, public transport stopped, public space cleared: the authorities, worried about seeing the “violence spreading” in Marseille, significantly reinforced the police on Saturday the day after a night marked by clashes and looting. On this day of the funeral of young Nahel, 17, killed by a police officer during a road check in the Paris region, the authorities fear new demonstrations of anger and violent outbursts: the police chief of Bouches-du-Rhône issued an order prohibiting “any demonstration between Saturday 2:00 p.m. and Sunday 7:00 a.m.”.
A massive reinforcement of CRS
The metros, trams and buses have been at a standstill since the beginning of the evening in this very large city, two and a half times larger than Paris. The city has asked operators of self-service scooters and bikes to remove them from public space and discontinue service. Garbage cans should not be taken out to avoid fires. The police headquarters also announced a massive reinforcement of CRS, the commitment of armored vehicles, the Raid and the GIGN and two helicopters from the gendarmerie. The latter, with a police plane, will fly over the city all night to help spot incidents. “We have cleared the public space and we are worried to see this violence spread because it was extremely strong last night”, explained on BFMTV the various left mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan.
Several districts of the city were trying to heal their wounds on Saturday, AFP journalists noted, after a night of clashes between groups of very mobile young people and the police which led to the arrest of 95 people. .
“Come especially to break”
In the popular districts of the north of Marseille, the violence of the day before stunned the inhabitants like this trader who watched helplessly as the looting of the shops of the Le Merlan shopping center, where 30 young people were arrested. “They came especially to break, steal and leave. I was there until 5:00 a.m., very, very young girls and boys left with bags full, we are really disgusted with what is happening. C This is a first here. Nahel’s death is the last straw, behind what is there? Lack of purchasing power? Boredom? The truth we are afraid now ( …) we are desperate,” Youcef Bettahar told AFP. At his side, the employees are busy picking up the broken glass from the facade of an optician, next to it, a shoe store is nothing more than a field of empty boxes.
Benoît Payan “requested from the Prime Minister an exceptional extension of the sales period as well as the establishment of an emergency fund for businesses”. Cultural events canceled each other. In Malpassé, the association Les Farandoleurs, which organizes school support and activities for young people in this poor district, also had to cancel an outdoor cinema evening at the stadium. “The seven or eight-year-olds were delighted with this evening, you should have seen how disgusted they were,” Samir Messikh told AFP. The 1987 South Winners, one of the two main groups of OM supporters, also called on the “young Marseillais” to show “wisdom and restraint”.