According to the president, the social networks TikTok and Snapchat play a big role in promoting the protests, and the government will demand from these networks the identities of those who call for violence. Macron returned early from the European Union summit in Brussels for the crisis meeting.
“(In the streets) we face organized and well-equipped groups, but also many young people. A third of those arrested are young or even very young. It is the parents’ responsibility to ensure that they stay at home,” Le Figaro quoted the French president as saying. Macron also described the situation as “unacceptable”, saying protesters were using the teenager’s death to commit violence.
The crisis meeting of the French cabinet on Friday morning was also chaired by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne. She called the ongoing violence in the streets sparked by the recent shooting of a young man by a police officer during a traffic control “intolerable and inexcusable”. It is said that the head of government intends to consider “all options” with Macron for the state’s response to the ongoing protests, which, according to the AFP agency, resulted in 875 arrests as of Friday.
Some restrictions have already been introduced by Marseille. This second largest French city has decided to ban public protests and that mass transport will stop running on Friday after seven in the evening.
A night full of fires
According to AFP sources, the situation was particularly worst in Paris and its surroundings, but the authorities in Lille, northern France, for example, also reported a difficult night marked by fires.
Young French people took to the streets in particular, outraged by the shooting of a 17-year-old youth during a police road check. Security forces now fear the violence will become “widespread” over the next few nights, according to a report cited by an AFP police source.
Last night, our police, gendarmes and firefighters courageously faced rare violence.
In accordance with my firm instructions, they made 667 arrests.
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) June 30, 2023
On the Rivoli street in Paris, which leads to the Louvre museum, people looted several shops and set fire to others. Fires, looting and fireworks accompanied residents at night not only in the center, but also in most of the suburbs, where people shot fireworks at the police and set fire to everything from garbage cans to cars to buses.
At least three cities imposed various forms of curfews for the next few days, according to AFP.
Firefighters in Lille had a rough night as they moved from one fire to another. The flames engulfed shops, houses, offices, the town hall and the theater, as well as several elementary schools. People - especially “very young people” – also looted shops and supermarkets on a large scale, local authorities said.
According to the Department of the Interior, 249 police officers and gendarmes were injured on Friday night. Le Figaro reports that two of its journalists were also injured, one of whom had to go to the emergency room. “The photographer (of the newspaper) was also brutally harassed late order.) Liberation, whose camera was stolen,” writes Figaro. Two other journalists were attacked by protesters in Besancon, one of whom was hit in the head with a crowbar.
“Today there is no place in France that is peaceful, we can talk about dozens of foci of tension,” says Czech TV’s French correspondent Jan Šmíd.
The unrest spread to other cities
“What is new is that the riots are spreading to the city centers as well. The declaration of a state of emergency is increasingly in play, it would bring almost unlimited power to the police and constables, who could declare a curfew,” adds Šmíd, adding that for now this authority rests with the mayors. He referred to the riots in 2005, when the declaration of a state of emergency helped calm the situation.
“We have seen incidents all over France, but the situation in the Ile-de-France region and in Paris has been extremely tense, the police have not been able to handle everything due to the large number of cases,” a senior police source told AFP.
Another anonymous French cabinet source said there was less violence than expected, with the exception of Nanterre, where the youth shot by police was from.
Seventeen-year-old Nahel lost his life on Tuesday morning shortly after the police stopped him while driving a car. When he refused to heed her call and drove off again, one of the policemen shot him at close range. The young man, who has North African roots, succumbed to his injuries shortly afterwards.
The video of the shooting quickly spread on social networks and deeply shocked the French, the AP agency wrote. While Nahel’s family and their lawyers did not directly say that the incident was related to their ethnicity, it still had the biggest impact, especially in immigrant neighborhoods.
Children of local residents who were already born in France complain that they are subjected to more frequent police checks than white French people or residents of wealthier areas.
The behavior of the police is also criticized by human rights groups and activists fighting against systematic racism.
2023-06-30 12:34:00
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