The Interior Ministry reported 719 arrests on Sunday, around 600 fewer than the night before. Most of those arrested had carried objects that could have been used as projectiles or weapons. 577 vehicles and 74 buildings were set on fire, as well as 871 fires on streets and squares. According to preliminary figures, 45 police officers and gendarmes were injured nationwide and more than 20 police stations and gendarmerie barracks were attacked.
According to the authorities, however, the extent of the violence was less than the riots of the previous nights. “Quieter night thanks to the resolute efforts of the law enforcement agencies,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter.
A nocturnal attack on the house of the mayor of the municipality of L’Haÿ-les-Roses in the greater Paris area, Vincent Jeanbrun, caused horror. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating because of “attempted murder”.
According to the responsible prosecutor Stéphane Hardouin, a burning vehicle entered the premises of the house around 1:30 a.m. Apparently, it was intended to set the house on fire, but according to the prosecutor, it was stopped by a small wall. A coke bottle with “accelerator” was later found in the vehicle.
At the time, Jeanbrun was at City Hall due to the ongoing night-time riots, but his wife and two children, five and seven years old, were sleeping in the house. They fled in panic, according to the prosecutor, the woman broke a shin on the run.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne spoke of an “intolerable incident”. In the afternoon, Borne visited the crime scene with Interior Minister Darmanin and other cabinet members. The Association of French Mayors called for solidarity rallies in front of all town halls in the country on Monday.
Meanwhile, it became known that a police officer in Nîmes, southern France, only survived a gun attack on Saturday night thanks to his bulletproof vest.
The ongoing violent unrest plunges President Emmanuel Macron into another serious crisis in the wake of the Yellow Vests protests and against his pension reforms. On Saturday, the President was forced to cancel his state visit to Germany, which was planned for Sunday. Instead, he scheduled an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Borne, Interior Minister Darmanin and Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti for Sunday evening. In addition, a permanent crisis management team was set up by the government.
The government and local authorities hope to contain the ongoing violent riots by deploying tens of thousands of security forces, canceling major events and stopping public transport in the evening. Numerous cities and municipalities also imposed a night-time curfew.
After online calls for riots in the center of Paris, there was a massive police presence on Sunday night on the magnificent Champs Elysées boulevard, as a journalist from the AFP news agency reported. Under the eyes of the police, small groups of young men dressed in black walked along the shops, which were protected from looting by bars and wooden boards.
Later that night, security forces dispersed the last remaining protest groups there. In Marseille, too, the emergency services quickly broke up crowds of young people in the city center.
The unrest was triggered by the death of Nahel M., who was shot by a police officer during a traffic check in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday. The 17-year-old, whose family is from Algeria, was buried in his hometown of Nanterre on Saturday afternoon, with the media excluded. The alleged shooter is in custody, the public prosecutor is investigating him for manslaughter.
The death of the 17-year-old caused great anger, especially among young people in the satellite towns of France, who see themselves discriminated against by society and especially the police because of their origin. They are particularly often the target of traffic controls. These end fatally more often than in many other countries.
A record 13 deaths were registered in the past year alone after drivers refused to stop at traffic stops. Authorities and police unions blame more dangerous driving behavior. But critics also point to a 2017 law that allows police officers to use their guns in traffic stops if their lives or the lives of others are in danger.
