For the 5th night since the death of Nahel, which sparked urban violence throughout France, an important security device is planned for Saturday evening.
A first report shows 121 people arrested everywhere in France, indicates a police source to franceinfo at 11:40 p.m., for this 5th night of violence in reaction to the death of Nahel in Nanterre. This same source specifies that 45 people were arrested in Paris on Saturday evening. On Twitter, at 10:15 p.m., the Paris police headquarters indicated that 37 arrests had taken place “near and on the Champs-Élysées”. According to the prefecture, these people were arrested for “carrying a weapon” and “carrying a weapon by destination”.
>> Violence after the death of Nahel: follow the latest information live
An important security device is again planned for Saturday evening, for the fifth night since the death of Nahel, which sparked urban violence throughout France. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced the renewal of the device for maintaining order for the night from Saturday to Sunday, with again 45,000 police and gendarmes mobilized.
On the people arrested in Paris, the police found balaclavas, shelled gloves, bottles of flammable liquid, shreds of fabric that can be used to make Molotov cocktails and glass bottles.
43 arrests in Marseille
Forty-three people were arrested this Saturday evening in Marseille, a police source told franceinfo at 11:15 p.m. Three of these people were arrested in flagrante delicto in a tobacco shop, specifies the police headquarters of Bouches-du-Rhône. Groups are trying to form in downtown Marseille and near shopping centers (Grand Littoral, Merlan, Bonneveine), according to the Bouches-du-Rhône police headquarters. There are, for example, 100 people in the Merlan car park, in the 14th arrondissement.
“Since the start of the evening, potentially violent groups have been systematically dispersed by the police and gendarmes, if necessary with the use of tear gas.“, writes the police headquarters of Bouches-du-Rhône on Twitter.
A little earlier in the evening, the prefecture indicated that “several small fairly compact groups” attempted to loot in the Canebière sector at the end of the day. They were “dispersed quickly” by law enforcement. In addition, there was an attempt to break into the Canebière fire station, “thwarted by the police”.
The night from Friday to Saturday had been particularly chaotic in Marseille as well as in the city center of Lyon, with in particular scenes of looting and clashes between young people and the police. Twenty-one people were arrested on Saturday evening in Lyon, a police source told franceinfo at 11:20 p.m. A first report from the Rhône prefecture reported 17 arrests. Earlier in the evening, she said the situation was “calm”.