First night of calm after five days of clashes and protests in France for the police killing of the 17-year-old Nahel in Nanterre. 45,000 agents were deployed on the field, including gendarmes and policemen, and they have arrested 157 people in major French cities: according to data from the Ministry of the Interior there were 352 fires in the streets, 297 vehicles were burned and 34 buildings were damaged. Among the victims was also reported a 24-year-old firefighter, who died while trying to put out a fire: the news was released by the Minister of the Interior himself, but at the moment there is no confirmation on the relationship with the clashes of these hours. In addition, in the morning the third occupant of the car driven by the killed boy gave himself up and was questioned by the police. The young man, who he had fled immediately after the accidenthas already entrusted his version of events to social networks, in some details different from the reconstructions of the police.
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Lyon, ultra-right demonstrators patrol in front of the town hall after the clashes over the death of the 17-year-old. The choirs: “France to the French”
One of the phenomena reported in the last few hours is that of far-right groups who took to the streets threatening the demonstrators. A group was sighted last night at Lyon, but was immediately rejected by the police who dispersed the beginning of the march – in which baseball bats and Roman salutes from the young people were noticed – using tear gas. According to the prefecture, the young people “attempted a communication operation in front of the town hall”. The local newspaper, Progressreports that “the right-wing group The walls, who came from the old city, was dispersed with tear gas”. Various videos on social media show young people shouting slogans such as “We are at home” and “France for the French”. In recent days, according to a deputy from La France Insoumise, Thomas Porte, similar demonstrations were recorded in Angers and Chambéry. To AngersIn particular, the prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the group which was captured on video in a heated discussion with protesters over Nahel’s death. At the same time, he is causing a sensation in France fundraising for the police officer accused of killing the 17-year-old: today it exceeded one million euros. “Support to the family of the Nanterre police officer Florian M, who did his job and is now paying a heavy price”, reads the description of the collection launched on the GoFundMe online platform. And the platform itself was accused because it decided not to cancel the fundraising because it was “in line” with the requests.
Meanwhile, a rally was convened by the mayors of France at noon in front of the town halls of the cities to denounce the wave of urban violence. The Association of Mayors of France (AMF) invited the population to “civic mobilize citizens for a return to republican order” a few hours after the violent attack on the house of the mayor of Hay-les-Roses, south of Paris, with an auto-ram. The wife and one of the mayor’s children were injured in the escape. The perpetrators of the act are being sought in the context of an attempted murder investigation. “Thank you for coming to show your support for the thousands of local politicians”: after receiving much applause, the mayor of Hay-les-Roses, Vincent Jeanbrun he thanked hundreds of people who came to support him. “Democracy itself is being attacked – he continued – we mayors are attacked, professors are attacked, the forces of order and security are targeted, even our doctors or our postmen no longer enter certain neighborhoods. Let’s take the floor again so that the hitherto silent majority can speak and say: that’s enough now!
President today Emmanuel Macron he will receive the presidents of the National Assembly Yael Braun-Pivet and the presidents of the Senate Gérard Larcher at the Elysée, while tomorrow he will meet the mayors affected by the unrest. “The president also asked Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to receive the chairmen of the political groups in Parliament today,” added the same government source. Le Figaro writes that during this meeting they were set three priorities: first the return to order, then government support for policemen, gendarmes, firefighters, magistrates and elected officials. Finally, the mobilization of the country’s political forces. The Minister of Sports Amelie Oudea-Castera announced that the security arrangements around the infrastructure of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have been “slightly strengthened”.
In general, the Interior Minister said Gerald Darmanin, around 3,200 arrests have been made in France since protests and riots erupted. The data, reported by the French media, refer to the period between 27 June and last Sunday, to five nights of rioting. According to the minister, of the approximately 3,200 people arrested, “60%” had no precedent, “were not known to the police services” and “had never been subject to a check”. The average age is “17 years old”, but there are also minors of “12 or 13 years” believed to be connected to fires, attacks against the police or institutions. Darmanin has once again insisted on the “responsibility of parents, of families”. In the five nights of protests, according to the Ministry of the Interior, 5,000 cars and vehicles were set on fire, about a thousand buildings destroyed by flames or damaged, 250 attacks against police stations or Gendarmerie posts and more than 700 injured among the forces of order. The latter days security device involved the deployment of 45,000 law enforcement unitsbetween the Police and the Gendarmerie.