France Protests: 719 Held Over Fresh Violence, Victim's Grandmother Says Rioters 'Using Nahel As Excuse'

France Protests: Nahel M's grandmother urged for calm as 719 people were arrested over fresh arson and violence. Authorities claimed that the scale and intensity of the violence appears to be waning.

File Photo: Crowds protest during a memorial march for French teenager, Nahel, who was killed by police on June 29, 2023 in Nanterre, France. A French teenager of North African origin was shot dead by police on June 27th, the third fatal traffic stop shooting this year in France - causing nationwide unrest and clashes with police forces.

Source : Getty Images

The grandmother of Nahel M, the 17-year-old boy whose fatal shooting by police sparked rioting in France, has appealed for calm while authorities claimed that the scale and intensity of the violence are perhaps waning, even as 719 people were arrested overnight on Saturday. French interior minister Gérald Darmanin said the police deployment would remain unchanged with 45,000 officers on duty around the country where protesters torched cars, looted shops, and clashed with police as recently as Saturday night.

The grandmother of Nahel M urged for calm, emphasising that she did not hate the police even as she resented the officers responsible for her grandson’s death.

“Stop rioting, stop destroying,” the grandmother, named as Nadia, told BFMTV, as quoted by The Gaurdian. “I say this to those who are rioting: do not smash windows, attack schools and buses. Stop. It’s mothers who take those buses.”

According to her, the rioters, mostly minors, were “using Nahel as an excuse”. “We want things to calm down,” she stressed.

The remarks came as over 40 officers were injured, 577 vehicles and 74 buildings were set ablaze, and 871 fires lit in streets and other public spaces on Saturday night, the interior ministry said, as per Gaurdian's report. It added that the huge police presence had “made for a quieter night”.

French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to meet senior ministers to assess the situation, the Élysée Palace said, after the interior ministry reported 719 arrests overnight on Saturday, compared with 1,300 on Friday night, the report mentioned.

In the most serious incident on Saturday night, the Mayor of L'Hay-les-Roses town, Vincent Jeanbrun on Sunday tweeted that the protestors "rammed a car" into his home prior to 'starting a fire' while his family slept. "My wife and one of my children were injured. It was an attempted murder of unspeakable cowardice," said Jeanbrun.

His tweet further read, "Last night a milestone was reached in horror and disgrace." Jeanbrun’s wife suffered a fractured leg.

Cette nuit, un cap a été franchi dans l'horreur et l'ignominie. Mon domicile a été attaqué et ma famille victime d'une tentative d’assassinat.

Ma détermination à protéger et servir la République est plus grande que jamais. Je ne reculerai pas. #PasPourRien #Emeutes ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/9HW1eAFCXN

— Vincent Jeanbrun (@VincentJeanbrun) July 2, 2023

The horrific incident took place on the fifth night of chaos across France when rioters torched vehicles, wrecked infrastructures, and clashed with security forces.

The deceased North African origin teenager was shot at point-blank range after he refused to stop for a traffic check and drove away. A police officer is being probed for voluntary homicide for shooting the youth while prosecutors say he failed to comply with an order to stop his car, Reuters reported.

Rights groups have accused law enforcement agencies in France of being infested with systemic racism, an allegation that Macron has previously denied.

Third Fatal Shooting During Traffic Stops In France So Far In 2023

The incident has fed into a deep-rooted perception of police brutality in the ethnically diverse suburbs of France’s biggest cities. The latest killing was the third fatal shooting during traffic stops in France so far in 2023, down from a record 13 last year, a national police spokesperson said.

According to a Reuters tally, there were three such killings in 2021 and two in 2020 and the majority of victims since 2017 were Black or of Arab origin.

France’s human rights ombudsman has opened an inquiry into the death which is the sixth such inquiry into similar incidents in 2022 and 2023.

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