The French interior ministry said on Thursday that it is mobilising 40,000 police officers to deal with riots that have spread across France following the shooting of a teenager of North African descent in Paris on Tuesday.
“The state must be firm in its response, tonight 40,000 policemen will be mobilised, including 5,000 in the Paris region, versus 9,000 yesterday,” interior minister Gerald Darmanin said.
The officers will also be deployed to towns and cities across France where riots spread on Wednesday night.
Police officer under investigation for ‘voluntary homicide’
A French prosecutor said the police officer who shot a 17-year-old on Tuesday had been placed under formal investigation for “voluntary homicide” and would be brought before a judge on Thursday.
The Nanterre public prosecutor said the police officer could be indicted on Thursday, adding that the initial investigations showed that “the legal conditions for the use of the weapon (during the incident) were not met.”
An autopsy of the body of the victim showed that the cause of death was receiving a single shot from a gun, the prosecutor said.
Unrest evokes memories of 2005 riots
Paris-based journalist Catherine Field told DW that the unrest that took place overnight was “exactly what the government hoped would not happen” when they deployed an additional 2,000 police officers in the Paris region.
Politicians are under pressure to contain the situation as they are “aware that back in 2005, when we had similar violence, that that violence went on for 17 nights,” Field added. The unrest in French suburbs nearly two decades ago had erupted over social injustice.
“Even though back in 2005 we heard that the police would make an effort to recruit people from these low-income areas, people from families of [migrant] background, this hasn’t really happened,” she said.
“So there really are these grievances that… have been passed from one generation to another, and these are still the grievances that we’ve heard for 20, 30 years.”
Field also noted that police violence is considered a problem in France, with a record 13 people killed by the police in 2022 after refusing to stop for police road checks. The majority of those were of Black or Arab descent.
Macron calls crisis meeting
French President Emmanuel Macron is holding crisis talks with senior government officials at the Interior Ministry for securing hot spots of unrest and planning for the coming days “so full peace can return.”
“The last few hours have been marked by scenes of violence against police stations, but also schools and town halls… against institutions and the Republic,” Macron told the meeting.
He added that such attacks “are absolutely unjustifiable,” and said it was time for “remembrance and respect” instead.
The French president later wrote on Twitter: “The next few hours must be marked by contemplation, justice and calm.”
Slain teen’s mother calls for silent march
The mother of Nahel, the teenager who was fatally shot by the police, has called for a silent march on Thursday in honour of her only child.
The march is set to take place on the same square he was killed in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.
Police shot 17-year-old Nahel, whose surname was not revealed by authorities, during a traffic check that was captured on video.
The shooting shocked the country and raised tensions between young people and police in neighbourhoods where many residents struggle with racial or class discrimination.
According to the Nanterre prosecutor’s office, the police officer accused of killing Nahel is in custody and could face preliminary charges as soon as Thursday.
France says 150 arrests made in Paris riots
French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said on Thursday that police arrested 150 people after a second night of clashes between police and protesters as anger erupted over the deadly police shooting of a teenager.
“A night of unbearable violence against symbols of the Republic: town halls, schools and police stations put ablaze or attacked,” Darmanin said on his Twitter account.
A police spokesperson was quoted as saying that more than half of the arrests were made in the Paris region.
Police reported fires and violence overnight in multiple cities, including Toulouse in the south and Lille in the north. However, the centre of the unrest was the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the killing of a 17-year-old driver by the police took place.
This article was originally published on DW.
