(Nanterre) The funeral of young Nahel, killed by a police officer during a traffic check, began on Saturday in Nanterre, a few hours after a fourth consecutive night of urban violence and looting throughout France during which more than 1,300 people were arrested.
Late Saturday morning, the crowd rushed to the funeral home of Nanterre for the lifting of the body of the young man, in a very tense atmosphere, noted AFP journalists. Nahel should be buried at the beginning of the afternoon in the nearby Mont-Valérien cemetery, in the strictest family privacy.
“Peace to his soul, may justice be done”, launched on condition of anonymity to AFP a Nanterrian woman leaving the funeral home. “I came to support the mother, she only had him, poor thing”.
Seized by an amateur video that contradicted the initial story given by the police, the point-blank shooting of a biker and the death of the teenager continued to ignite many cities in the country, despite the “exceptional means” deployed by the security forces to try to stem the spiral of violence.
Au moins 1311 personnes ont été interpellées dans la nuit, selon un nouveau bilan du ministère de l’Intérieur, dont 406 à Paris et en proche banlieue.
Quelque 1350 véhicules ont été incendiés, 266 bâtiments ont été incendiés ou dégradés, dont 26 mairies et 24 écoles, et 2560 feux comptabilisés sur la voie publique, selon Beauvau, des chiffres en net recul par rapport à ceux de la nuit précédente.
PHOTO ROMAIN PERROCHEAU, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Une voiture incendiée, à Talence, dans le sud-ouest de la France
En déplacement dans la nuit à Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines), Gérald Darmanin a fait état de violences d’une « intensité moindre ».
Son ministère a par ailleurs recensé dans la nuit 31 attaques de commissariats, 16 attaques de postes de police municipale et 11 de casernes de gendarmerie, et fait état de 79 policiers et gendarmes blessés.
Selon une source policière, Lyon et Marseille ont été les deux agglomérations les plus touchées.
Incendies et pillages
Sur les bords du Rhône, une trentaine de magasins du centre-ville ont été victimes des pilleurs.
« Lundi […] I’m putting everything up for sale, that’s enough”, launched, annoyed, the owner of a lingerie shop in a pedestrian street strewn with debris. “We have to leave, that’s all there is left to do,” added the manager of a small nearby hotel.
In Vaulx-en-Velin, in the Lyon suburbs, a rioter fired a shotgun at three police officers who were injured, a police source reported.
Marseille was once again the scene of clashes and scenes of looting, from the city center then further north in these working-class neighborhoods long neglected that President Emmanuel Macron visited at the start of the week.
PHOTO CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A goods truck burned in the Flamants district, north of Marseille
A few hunting weapons were also stolen from an armory but without ammunition, according to the police headquarters.
The Paris region was not spared by the flames, in particular Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), enveloped in a strong smell of burning, noted an AFP journalist on the spot.
In Saint-Denis, an administrative center was set on fire, and in Val-d’Oise, the town hall of Persan-Beaumont and the municipal police station were partly destroyed by the flames. “An unspeakable act”, denounced on the spot the Minister Delegate for Housing, Olivier Klein.
The night was calmer in Bordeaux, Dunkirk (Nord) or Calais (Pas-de-Calais) but many cities were affected by the incidents such as Evreux (Eure), where a hypermarket was looted, and Lens, whose town hall was targeted.
PHOTO ROMAIN PERROCHEAU, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
This bus shelter was vandalized during a demonstration in Bordeaux.
In an attempt to stem the spiral of riots, Gérald Darmanin announced on Friday the “exceptional” mobilization of 45,000 police and gendarmes.
Canceled concerts, curfews
The Minister of the Interior had also asked the prefects to stop buses and trams throughout France after 9 p.m. And many municipalities had introduced a curfew.
Demonstrations “against racism, crime and police violence” were also banned Friday evening in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux or Toulouse.
The government has also decided to cancel “large-scale” events, in particular the concerts of Mylène Farmer at the Stade de France on Friday and Saturday.
The interministerial crisis unit met again on Saturday morning, around the director of the Prime Minister’s cabinet, Élisabeth Borne to take stock of the situation. The ministers for their part were asked to stay in Paris this weekend.
The question of the state of emergency remains raised and scrutinized abroad, especially since France is hosting the Rugby World Cup in the fall, then the Olympic Games in Paris in the summer of 2024.
The players of the France soccer team sent a “call for appeasement” in the evening. “The time of violence must end to give way to that of mourning, dialogue and reconstruction,” urged the Blues.
This spiral of violence and the anger of many young residents of working-class neighborhoods recalled the riots that shook France in 2005 after the death of two teenagers pursued by the police.
The spark this time was the tragedy that occurred on Tuesday not far from the business center of La Défense, during a police check on the car driven by Nahel, a minor known for refusing to comply.
The 38-year-old police officer who fired the fatal shot was indicted for intentional homicide and remanded in custody on Thursday afternoon.