“Stop, don’t break,” launched Nahel’s grandmother in full French television on Sunday.
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• Read also: Urban violence in France: more than 1,300 arrests overnight from Friday to Saturday
The grandmother of the teenager killed by a police officer in France has called for an end to the violence sparked by the death, hours after a car-ramming attack on the home of a mayor which raised a wave of protests. ‘indignation.
Sign of the seriousness of the crisis experienced throughout the country since Nahel, 17, was killed by a police officer during a traffic stop on Tuesday, an update is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. Eastern Time) around the head of state Emmanuel Macron, announced the French presidency.
During a fifth night of urban violence, rioters smashed through the gate of the home of Vincent Jeanbrun, mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, on the southern outskirts of Paris, using a previously set on fire car , according to a prosecutor in charge of the investigation opened for “attempted assassination”.
The wife of this right-wing elected official, himself absent, and one of his two young children were injured while fleeing the house, reported Mr. Jeanbrun, for whom “a milestone has been crossed in horror and ignominy”.
In unison with the political class, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne spoke out against “intolerable facts”. The government will “not let any violence pass”, she assured on the spot Sunday afternoon, promising “the greatest firmness” in the sanctions.
A call to elected officials and citizens to gather Monday at 12 p.m. (6 a.m. Eastern Time) in front of town halls across the country was also launched by the president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), David Lisnard. , in a context of resurgence of attacks against elected officials with “150 town halls or municipal buildings attacked since Tuesday” according to him.
In total, the Ministry of the Interior has identified ten police stations, ten gendarmerie barracks and six municipal police stations targeted overnight from Saturday to Sunday. Some 719 people were arrested, in particular for carrying objects likely to be used as weapons or projectiles.
“Stop, don’t break”, launched Sunday for the rioters Nadia, the grandmother of Nahel, the day after the burial of the teenager in meditation in Nanterre, near Paris, where he died .
“That they don’t break the windows, that they don’t break the schools, not the buses,” she said on the BFMTV channel, “it’s moms who take the buses.”
In an attempt to stem the spiral of violence, many French municipalities have introduced a curfew and public transport networks have been closed earlier than expected, in particular that of buses and trams in the Paris region from 9 p.m. Eastern Time).
“I blame the two policemen (…) who gave my grandson the head twice with their butts, and the one who shot directly in the heart, he could have shot him in the leg, in the arms”, Nahel’s grandmother said again, saying she had “confidence in justice”.
An amateur video has contradicted the initial account given by the police of the point-blank shooting which resulted in the death of the teenager, whose alleged perpetrator, aged 38, was arrested and charged with intentional homicide.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin renewed the law enforcement system on Sunday with, for the third consecutive night, 45,000 police and gendarmes mobilized.
The night from Saturday to Sunday was “quieter thanks to the resolute action of the police”, assured the minister in the morning, compared to the previous one, marked by more than 1,300 arrests, a record since Tuesday .
Among these staff, 7,000 are deployed in Paris and the near periphery, in addition to substantial reinforcements in Marseille (south) and Lyon (center east), the main cities affected the day before by the clashes, destruction or looting.
A total of 577 vehicles and 74 buildings were nevertheless set on fire, and 45 police officers and gendarmes were injured, according to the Interior Ministry.
In Marseille, on the Canebière, main artery of the second city of France, large numbers of police forces managed to disperse the groups of young people who had sown chaos the day before, noted AFP journalists. .
In Paris, an important device has been deployed along the Champs-Élysées, where calls to gather have been circulating since Friday on social networks, according to an AFP journalist.
This conflagration worries abroad, especially since France is to host the Rugby World Cup in the fall, then the Olympic Games in the summer of 2024.
In this climate, Mr Macron postponed his state visit to Germany scheduled for Sunday evening to Tuesday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “concerned” on Sunday given the importance of the Franco-German couple for the functioning of the European Union, while saying he was “convinced” that the French president would find the means to get out ” rapidly” of the crisis.
The wave of violence and the anger of many young residents of working-class neighborhoods against the police or the state recall the riots that shook France in 2005, after the death of two teenagers pursued by the police.