success of law enforcement
Violence in riots in France ebbs
07/02/2023 09:37 am
The riots in France continue for the fifth night in a row, but the overall level of violence is decreasing. The country’s interior minister tweeted that this was due to the resolute efforts of the law enforcement agencies.
Riots in France following the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old by a police officer have eased on the fifth night of protests. Although there were unrest in several cities on Sunday night, the extent of the violence was lower than in the previous nights. “Quieter night thanks to the resolute efforts of the law enforcement agencies,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter.
Until 3.30 a.m. CEST, the authorities did not register any riots of the magnitude of the previous nights. Up to this point in time, there have been 486 arrests – but mainly for carrying objects that can be used as weapons or thrown objects. According to the interim balance of the authorities, 194 people were taken into police custody in Paris and the surrounding area on Sunday night.
The presence of the security forces was massive on the magnificent Champs-Elysées boulevard in the capital, as a journalist from the AFP news agency reported. Under the eyes of the police, small groups of young men dressed in black walked along the shops, which were protected from looting by bars and wooden planks. Later that night, security forces dispersed the last remaining protest groups there.
In a Paris suburb, demonstrators rammed a car into the mayor’s house. The rioters rammed the house with their car on Sunday night and then set it on fire, said Vincent Jeanbrun, mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses near Paris, on Twitter. His wife and one of his two children were “injured,” wrote Jeanbrun. He was at the town hall of the city south of Paris during the incident.
No looting in Marseille
In Marseille, the security forces broke up crowds of young people in the city center, and according to the authorities’ preliminary balance sheet, there were 56 arrests. The groups of protesters were therefore smaller than the night before. The regional police department said there were no “scenes of looting” in Marseille like the night before.
According to the authorities, 1,350 vehicles were set on fire nationwide during the riots on Saturday night, 266 buildings were set on fire or damaged and 2,560 fires were set on roads. 79 police officers and gendarmes were injured.
Interior Minister Darmanin then announced on Saturday evening that 45,000 police officers and gendarmes would be mobilized across the country – the same number as the night before. As on the previous evening, public bus and tram traffic was stopped in many places. In Marseille, the subway no longer ran.
Night curfews and bans on sales
Numerous French cities imposed night curfews to get the situation under control. The sale of larger fireworks and flammable liquids has been banned.
The unrest was triggered by the death of Nahel M., who was shot by a police officer during a traffic check in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday. The 17-year-old was buried in his hometown of Nanterre on Saturday afternoon, with the media excluded. The alleged shooter is in custody, the public prosecutor is investigating him for manslaughter.
The unrest in France has now reached Switzerland. The police arrested seven people on Saturday evening in the city of Lausanne near the border with France, as reported by the Keystone-SDA news agency. According to the police, more than 100 young people had gathered in response to the riots in France. There was property damage to shops. The seven arrested were taken to a police station, the police said in a statement. There are six minors aged 15 to 17 and one 24-year-old.