According to authorities, more than 70 people have been detained in France for rioting
More than 70 people were detained in Paris suburbs on Thursday as rioting provoked by the death of a teenager in a police gunshot lasted into the early hours of the morning.
Protests erupted on Tuesday in the Paris district of Nanterre, but have since extended to other major cities such as Toulouse, Lille, Lyon, and Nice.
Rioters threw fireworks at police, set garbage cans on fire, and set numerous automobiles on fire.
#BREAKING #France #Nanterre #Paris Live from the conflict between protesters and the French police in the Pablo Picasso district.
— National Independent (@NationalIndNews) June 29, 2023
Video Source: Clement Lanot pic.twitter.com/zrPY4Vz3bf
According to Le Figaro, “a few dozen” individuals set off fireworks at a jail in Fresnes, a southern Paris neighborhood, and attempted to break into the structure before being chased away by police.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Wednesday evening that 2,000 cops and gendarmes had been placed on alert in the greater Paris area, 800 more than the night before.
In Nanterre, police also acquired an emergency permit to employ surveillance drones.
According to authorities, 77 arrests were made in the early hours of Thursday, as reported by AFP.
More than 30 persons were held in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, many of them came from the Hauts-de-Seine region, where Nanterre is located.
Riots occurred after a 17-year-old man, Nahel M., was fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic check.
At the time, police stated that Nahel had refused to comply with the officer’s demands.
Mounia, the young man’s mother, released a video on TikTok asking for “a revolt” to obtain justice for her son’s murder.
The cop who fired the fatal shot was arrested and charged with deliberate murder.
Lawyers for Nahel’s mother have requested a change of venue, claiming that Nanterre prosecutors cannot be impartial because the suspect is a member of their force.