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Paris is Burning: 1,300 people arrested amid French riots over teen's killing by police

French officials said about 2,500 fires were set and stores were vandalized and broken into. As a result of the unfolding chaos, the government has dispatched 40,000 police officers

Bus quemado durante los disturbios en Francia
Bus quemado durante los disturbios en Francia | EFE

July 2, 2023 12:44pm

Updated: July 2, 2023 12:45pm

French authorities have arrested about 1,300 people in the Paris metropolitan area on the fourth night of rioting after purported police brutality got a teenager killed. 

The riots have resulted in French President Emmanuel Macron to cancel long, hard earned family vacation as the head of state admonished parents to keep their children at home, reports The Associated Press.

French officials said about 2,500 fires were set and stores were vandalized and broken into. As a result of the unfolding chaos, the government has dispatched 40,000 police officers.

Macron condemned the riots via Twitter. 

"Violence against police stations, schools, town halls, against the Republic, is unjustifiable. Thank you to the police, gendarmes, firefighters and elected officials mobilized. Meditation, Justice and calm must guide the next few hours," the French head of state wroteon Twitter.

The riots erupted several days ago after a police shooting that resulted in the death of a teenager identified as Nahel M. The French government has said the teen’s family's roots are in Algeria, a former French colony on the northern African coast.

Nahel was pulled over by police in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, Tuesday morning for purportedly violating traffic laws and fleeing from law enforcement, while driving a car with a Polish license plate.

Law enforcement agents initially said the teenager was shot after he aimed his Mercedes at them and accelerated.

That account has since been disputed however after an online video of the incident surfaced depicting police officers with their weapons drawn at the driver's window.

As the driver started to drive away, the police began to shoot, and a bullet struck the teen through the arm and chest resulting in the car crashing. 

The officer who shot Nahel was subsequently charged with voluntary homicide.

Since then, four nights of riots have erupted and 200 police officers have been injured or wounded, and more than 2,400 people have been arrested, according to the AP.  

Saturday night, a burning automobile struck the home of the mayor of Paris suburb l’Hay-les-Roses amid several schools, town halls, stores and even police stations being targeted with arson.

“Young rioters clashed with police late Saturday and early Sunday and targeted a mayor’s home with a burning car as France faced a fifth night of unrest sparked by the police killing of a teenager, but overall violence appeared to lessen compared to previous nights,” the Associated Press wrote.

Law enforcement made 719 arrests across the country by early Sunday after a huge security deployment targeting rioters.