719 more arrests in France tonight, the fifth of violent protests after the police killing of Nahel, a 17-year-old young man in Nanterre, in the Parisian banlieue. According to the French media, the Ministry of the Interior updated the balance, underlining that there were 194 arrests in Paris alone.
The French Ministry of the Interior updated the numbers, after an initial assessment that spoke of 486 arrests, according to local media reports.
Paris, Marseille and Lyon were among the worst affected cities with rioting, looting and damage to property. However, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Sunday that Saturday night was calmer thanks to “determined action” by the police. Yesterday evening, Darmanin himself announced that 45,000 agents and gendarmes would be mobilized throughout the country to deal with possible unrest and incidents. “In the face of violence, they demonstrate exemplary courage,” Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne wrote on Twitter.
Yesterday there were 1,311 arrests and 79 police officers were injured. Several hundred people attended the last farewell to Nahel, showing up first at the morgue, then at the mosque where the ceremony was held and finally at the cemetery where the boy was buried. The ceremony took place at the Ibn Badis mosque in Nanterre, the burial at the Mont Valérien cemetery. Tensions arose between youth groups and the press, whose presence had been forbidden by the victim’s family and entourage.
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