The picture on the ground in France is very unclear, with reports of clashes in several cities around the country.

Here's a quick recap of what we know so far, and how we got here:

• French police and protesters have violently clashed for a third night following the killing of a 17-year-old boy at a traffic stop in a suburb of Paris
• The teenager, Nahel M, was shot dead by a policeman in Nanterre on Tuesday morning
• Thousands of people joined a march there earlier today to demand justice for Nahel - including his mother
• But after the peaceful demonstration, riots have broken out in Nanterre again
• Unrest has spread to cities around France and even to Belgium, where 15 people have been arrested in Brussels
• Authorities have deployed 40,000 police officers around France, while trams and buses have stopped services early in many areas
• The policeman who shot Nahel has been arrested charged with voluntary homicide

We've heard from Prisca Thevenot, an MP for President Macron's party, who has denied any racism in the police.

The politician, whose Hauts-de-Seine constituency covers the area where the teenager was killed, told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme:

Rajini Vaidyanathan
Reporting from Nanterre

Nanterre, the suburb of Paris where 17 year old Nahel lived - and died - has once again become the scene of unrest.

Hours after a peaceful march in his honour ended violence broke out. Office buildings were vandalised and a bank was set on fire.

As the evening drew on police officers arrived in large numbers, in vans and on bikes.

And it's the relationship many here have with the police which has prompted the anger – people in this ethnically diverse neighbourhood say officers aren’t working to protect them.

The fatal shooting of Nahel was captured on camera, which led to one protester asking: "How many other cases like his have there been, which no one knew about?"

Clashes appear not to be confined to within France's borders tonight, as protests have spread to Brussels.

Police in the Belgian capital have arrested 15 people in the city centre after fires were lit by demonstrators, Francophone broadcaster RTBF reports, external.

A Brussels police spokesperson has told reporters that calls were made on social media in Belgium for protests to be held in support with French demonstrators.

Chris Bockman
Reporting from Toulouse

For a second night running France’s fourth biggest city Toulouse - far from the capital - has faced a new wave of urban violence. An appeal online for a demonstration at 20:00 local time quickly turned ugly with a standoff between police and youths.

I witnessed smoke billowing from different fires close to several tower blocks on the sprawling housing estate called Le Mirail which is home to close to 35,000 people mainly of North African origin.

The local authorities had earlier in the day said they expected more violence in the city this evening and received permission from a judge to use drones to monitor the situation from the air.

Last night skirmishes occurred until the middle of the night, but a very heavy thunderstorm over the city this evening seems to have played a part in dampening the tension.

Three people have been arrested in Marseille following clashes with police, French media are reporting.

Video and pictures on social media appear to show rubbish piles have been set on fire in several places, while police deployed tear gas to disperse crowds gathering in the port area of the southern city.

French newspaper Le Monde says one officer has been taken to hospital after being injured by projectiles thrown by protesters.

Six people have been arrested by riot police in Lille, near the border with Belgium, according to a police source quoted by the AFP news agency.

Fires have also been set by protesters in the south western city of Toulouse, Le Monde reports, but no arrests have been recorded there so far.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

As protests break out across France for a third night running, some areas have decided to take precautions by stopping public transport earlier and enforcing curfews.

We've reported some of these already, but here's a look at what we know so far:

• Buses and trams in Île-de-France stopped running after 21:00 local time to avoid further escalations. The region, in north-central France, encompasses Paris and has an estimated population of 12 million
• Compiègne in the northern Oise region will impose a curfew from 22:00 to 06:00, starting tonight and ending on Monday morning, for all children under 16 years of age who are not accompanied by a parent or guardian
• In the Clamart suburb, south-west of Paris, a curfew was imposed between 21:00 and 06:00, and it will also stay in place until Monday
• And in Savigny-le-Temple, also within Île-de-France, a curfew solely for minors is in place between 22:00 and 05:00. Again, youngsters will only be able to walk around during this time if they are accompanied by a parent or guardian

Image source, EPA

We're hearing that French authorities are bracing themselves for more violent protests in various parts of the country.

The AFP news agency reports that an internal security note says the "coming nights" are expected "to be the theatre of urban violence" - with "actions targeted at the forces of order and the symbols of the state".

We already know that Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has arranged for 40,000 police officers to be deployed across France tonight, in order to deal with any further unrest.

Police clashes in Nanterre, the Parisian suburb where 17-year-old Nahel was fatally shot by police, look to be escalating.

Various French outlets are carrying footage of a huge fire engulfing the ground floor of a building, where a bank is located and thick black smoke is billowing out.

Firefighters are on the scene at the Crédit Mutuel bank, local media reports, and they're trying to rescue people who are understood to be in the flats above.

One reporter tells France 24 the situation has worsened in the last 10 minutes or so. "Around 200 people are here. Everyone is looking on shocked and hoping nothing awful happens," the journalist says, adding that the fire grew "really quickly".

We'll bring you an image of the scene as soon as we get one.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

We're hearing more now from Mounia, Nahel's mother, who tells broadcaster France 5 that she doesn't resent the whole police force - just the officer who fired the lethal shot that killed her son.

"I don't blame the police," Mounia says, but she adds that the officer "didn't have to kill my son".

"He saw the face of an Arab, of a little kid, he wanted to take his life," Mounia says.

She led a march earlier, in memory of her son, after saying he was "my life, my best friend". In a video, shared online, she said her 17-year-old was her only child.

"They've taken my baby," she says in the footage, which you can watch here:

As unrest in France enters its third evening, here's a quick day-by-day of how we got here.

Tuesday

• Just after 09:00 local time, police shot dead a 17-year-old who failed to stop for a traffic check in Nanterre, a town on the outskirts of Paris
• The teenager, named as Nahel M, was shot as he drove off and crashed the car shortly afterwards
• Police initially suggested Nahel drove his car towards them to injure them, but footage later showed he was shot at point-blank range by an officer pointing his weapon at him through the driver's window
• That evening, the first night of unrest began

Wednesday

• After President Emmanuel Macron called the shooting "unforgivable", more riots broke out
• Over the first two nights of unrest, some 170 police officers were injured and 180 people arrested, according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin

Thursday

• Nahel's mother, Mounia, led a march in Nanterre which more than 6,000 people are thought to have attended
• That also devolved into riots, with police clashes ongoing as nightfall approaches

• The officer who shot Nahel has been arrested and charged with voluntary homicide, after initially handing himself in to police for investigation

We've pulled together a 55-second summary of the circumstances around Nahel's death below.

Image source, Reuters

A French left-wing politician has called for France's firearm law to be repealed in the wake of Nahel's killing.

Mathilde Panot, president of the left-wing political party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), criticises the government for sending anti-terror police into working class areas and says President Emmanuel Macron "knows only repression".

Writing on Twitter,, external she adds the government must repeal the law's "licence to kill" and rebuild the police from the ground up.

The 2017 law, which allows police to shoot if a driver ignores orders to stop under some circumstances, is being widely blamed for the teenager's death.

It is not just transport in Paris which is being disrupted this evening, we are also seeing services being halted earlier in Lille - in the north-east of France.

The ilevia Metro firm, which runs public transport in Lille, says from 20:00 local time there will be no buses or trams running.

Down in Tours, around 240km south-west of Paris, again trams and bus services will stop at 22:00 local time.

Let's give you a quick recap of the key turn of events of the last 24 hours or so:

• French police and protesters have clashed at a march in the Paris suburb of Nanterre where a teenage boy called Nahel was shot dead by a policeman during a traffic stop on Tuesday
• Demonstrators last night threw projectiles during riots and police responded with tear gas
• Thousands of people joined a march today to demand justice for Nahel - including his mother
• Authorities are deploying 40,000 police in anticipation of further unrest
• Trams and buses will stop services early in some areas
• The policeman who shot Nahel has been remanded in custody on suspicion of homicide and remains under house arrest at this time

Hugh Schofield
BBC News, Paris

The outbreak of rioting in France is the stuff of bad dreams for President Emmanuel Macron.

To the list of other civil order crises he has had to surmount - terrorism, yellow-vests, left-wing protests over pensions - can now be added that persistent French crisis-in-waiting which is the banlieue - or suburb.

Sporadically over the last 18 years there have been outbreaks of rioting in the suburban cités or tenements, whose once-immigrant populations are now often third, or fourth, generation French.

Typically triggered by the accidental death or injury of a young male resident - an accident blamed on the police - they tended not to last more than a night or two.

Not since 2005 has there been a protracted trauma of the kind that now threatens.

Read more here.

Unrest in France over the killing of Nahel is still ongoing, the third consecutive evening of clashes between police and protesters in Paris.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Laura Gozzi
Live reporter

Image source, EPA

Clashes between the residents of French banlieues - the suburbs - and the police are not rare and happen more often than the authorities would like.

In 2016, in a Paris housing estate, a male officer suffered serious burns and was put in an induced coma after a group of youths pelted petrol bombs at his patrol car.

Police unions protested and demanded a strong response from the government. Following that incident, the law on use of firearms by police was amended.

Officers were allowed to shoot when faced with one of five situations - one being when a driver ignores an order to stop, and is likely to pose a risk to the life or physical safety of other people.

Critics say that this amendment - on the basis of which the teen Nahel M was shot and killed - makes the law much too vague, as it leaves an officer to determine whether the driver’s refusal to comply poses a risk.

The law has also been linked to the deaths of 13 people killed by French police after traffic stops in 2022.

But Bernard Cazeneuve, the French former interior minister who approved the law, has defended the legislation, saying "it does not at all give officers permission to shoot whenever".

A little earlier we heard from the lawyer of Nahel, the teenager who was fatally shot. And now we've got some lines from the lawyer of the police officer accused of shooting the 17-year-old.

Laurent-Franck Lienard has told French radio station RTL that his client discharged his firearm "in full compliance of the law".

"He did not act outside the legal framework," Lienard said.

He also said the officer is going through an "extremely difficult time" following the shooting:

We've had updates today from French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who last spoke to the media a few hours ago to call for calm across France.

The country's President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, is in Brussels where he's attending the European Council.

He'll be there until tomorrow but is said to be in close contact with Borne and following the situation in France "closely", according to French broadcaster BFMTV.

Image source, Reuters

Rajini Vaidyanathan
Reporting from Nanterre

Image source, BBC News

As the sun sets on an emotional day in Nanterre, the mood is now shifting.

Earlier thousands gathered for a march, led by Nahel's mother, demanding justice.

"We don't trust the police," a 25 year old man told me, "that's why I'm wearing this," he said as he pointed to a GoPro camera hanging around his neck.

People we've talked to here feel Nahel's death is another example of how the police, which is meant to protect them, doesn't.

As the light faded, heavy smoke filled the air, fires had been started nearby.

Fire engines blared as they raced to the scene. Dozens of police officers have now arrived, in case tensions worsen as the evening progresses.