Summary

  • Forty-five-thousand police officers have been deployed in France on Friday evening, the interior minister says

  • Gérald Darmanin said 471 people had been arrested so far in a fourth night of rioting, but that there had been a "downturn" in violence

  • He has repeated government calls for parents to keep their children out of the riots, with reports of some as young as 13 taking part

  • The government also requested the shutdown of overnight bus and tram services, and said armoured vehicles would be used to aid law enforcement

  • French football star Kylian Mbappe says "violence solves nothing", and calls for it to be replaced by "mourning, dialogue and reconstruction"

  • The UK Foreign Office has updated its guidance for Brits visiting France, urging travellers to monitor the media and avoid protests

  • The disturbances began on Tuesday after police shot dead a 17-year-old boy of Algerian descent, named as Nahel M

  • The officer who shot Nahel has apologised to the family, but the teen's death has revived grievances about policing and racial profiling in France's suburbs

  1. March in Nanterre due to begin shortlypublished at 12:52 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    As we reported in our last post, Nahel's mother Mounia has called for a march to take place in memory of her son.

    This is due to begin at 14:00 local time (13:00 BST) in Nanterre, and we'll bring you live text and picture updates as they come through.

    President Macron has said the march should be marked by "contemplation and respect".

    Some people have told French media that they had planned to attend, but are now concerned that violence might erupt again.

  2. WATCH: 'What can I do?' asks mother of shot teenagerpublished at 12:37 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    Media caption,

    Nahel's mother speaks after Paris police shooting

    The mother of Nahel, the teenager shot dead by police, has called for people to join a march this afternoon in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre where he was killed.

    In a tribute to her only child, Mounia said police had taken away her baby.

    Speaking in a social media video, she added: "He was still a child... What can I do? He was my life. He was everything to me."

  3. French prime minister condemns riotspublished at 12:27 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    French PM Elisabeth BorneImage source, Getty Images

    We're now hearing from Elisabeth Borne, the French prime minister, who says she understands the outpouring of emotion following 17-year-old Nahel M's death but condemns the riots.

    Speaking from Garges-lès-Gonesse - roughly 12.5 miles (20km) away from Nanterre, where the teenager was killed - Borne tells the media "nothing justifies the violence that's occurred".

    She says attacking symbols of the Republic and public facilities is "unacceptable", and pleads for the de-escalation of violence.

  4. Justice isn't done on TV or social media - French ministerpublished at 12:09 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    Eric Dupond-Moretti, France's justice minister, has given some detail about the violence being seen across the country.

    He told reporters that an officer "was almost burned alive last night". "This is an emotional time. A kid died and kids should not die," Dupond-Moretti added.

    Calling for "calm" and urging people to be "very careful with the words we use", he warned that:

    Quote Message

    Justice isn't done on TV or on social media... Everyone who spits on the police and the justice system is a moral accomplice of everything that is going on."

  5. Nanterre residents fear further violence on the streetspublished at 11:55 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    Sofia Bettiza
    Reporting from Paris

    Flowers are seen at the site where Nahel, killed by a French police officer during a traffic stop, in Nanterre,Image source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Tributes have been left at the scene where a 17-year-old teenager was killed by police on Tuesday

    Some people in Nanterre told us they are scared.

    “The riots are inadmissible,” says Nicole, who’s been living in the neighbourhood for half a century.

    “They’re hurting the people who live here, who can’t go to work today because their cars have been burned down.”

    She said that the rioters have been vandalising shops and even blocked an ambulance that was trying to get into the area.

    “They are breaking everything.”

    Her friend Valerie agrees, and says she hasn’t been able to sleep for the past two nights.

    “I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life. We are all scared, because we don’t know what’s going to happen tonight. What will they do next?” she says.

    Nicole and Valerie don’t support what the policeman did; they admit the police are not perfect, but they are necessary.

    “Without the police, what would we do?”

  6. At least 180 arrested after protestspublished at 11:42 British Summer Time 29 June 2023
    Breaking

    Darmanin, the interior minister, also added that 170 officers were injured in last night's clashes and that 180 people were arrested.

    "This wasn't about small protest. It was about a small group of people deciding to attack the symbols of the republic... When you attack schools or community centres or city halls, you attack symbols," Darmanin said, vowing to restore "justice, calm and freedom".

  7. France to deploy 40,000 police officerspublished at 11:39 British Summer Time 29 June 2023
    Breaking

    Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has given some short statements to journalists in the last few minutes, where he said that 40,000 officers will be mobilised across France tonight.

    Yesterday, only 9,000 were deployed. However, a state of emergency is not about to be called, he said.

  8. Toulouse unrest highlights lingering urban divisionspublished at 11:27 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    Chris Bockman
    Reporting from Toulouse

    Vehicles are burnt following the death of a teenager killed by a French police officerImage source, Reuters

    The unrest in Toulouse is reminiscent of the wave of riots that rocked the country in 2005.

    Over a three week period, I witnessed the city become the scene of the most violent rioting outside of Paris. Back then it highlighted a severe fracture within the city.

    For the past two decades Toulouse has consistently been the fastest growing city in France thanks to good jobs in the aerospace industry in particular and the quality of life here.

    However away from the prosperous and attractive city centre are deep pockets of poverty that persist to this day.

    While unemployment in general has fallen sharply youth unemployment on the estates is still stuck stubbornly in the double digits.

    Nevertheless in the past decade, a massive renovation of the mainly immigrant suburbs has taken place and a unique innovative busing project initiative to bring children from the poor estates to the wealthier city centre schools is now being copied elsewhere.

    However last night’s troubles highlight the urban divisions have not been healed yet.

  9. Dog killed in Toulouse adds to anger as violence eruptspublished at 11:12 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    Chris Bockman
    Reporting from Toulouse

    Last night’s disturbances spread far beyond Paris’s suburbs including to Toulouse the country’s fourth biggest city. Most of the violence occurred on a sprawling housing estate called Le Mirail home to around 35,000 people mainly of North African origin.

    The local authorities say dozens of cars were set alight and 13 people arrested. Police used tear gas to disperse rioters who attacked fire brigades sent in to put out the flames. Skirmishes between youths and police continued throughout the night ending around 3am.

    It seems the trouble started when a man smeared in blood appeared in front of an angry crowd carrying his dead dog which he said had just been shot dead by the police.

    This morning the mayor of Toulouse Jean-Luc Moudenc has appealed for calm. He said everyone wants to know how 17-year-old Nahel was killed but insisted urban violence won’t achieve anything.

  10. In pictures: Damage after clashes in Lille suburbpublished at 11:00 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    The clean-up after two nights of riots is being seen across different areas of France including Mons-en-Barœul, a suburb of Lille in the north of the country.

    Cars and buildings have been destroyed after clashes between protesters and the police overnight.

    Police next to a smash windowImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    French officers secure the area at the city hall of Mons-en-Barœul, damaged during night clashes between protesters and police

    Police man near burnt carImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Municipal police cars were burnt during the unrest

    the police station near the city hall of Mons-en-BarœulImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    While the police station near the city hall of Mons-en-Barœul was also damaged

  11. WATCH: Macron reacts to unrest across Francepublished at 10:41 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    In a meeting with the emergency council of ministers earlier, Emmanuel Macron reflected on the riots and appealed for calm.

    "The next hours have to be driven by contemplation and respect," he said.

  12. Officer's use of weapon was not lawful - prosecutorpublished at 10:21 British Summer Time 29 June 2023
    Breaking

    Nanterre's public prosecutor continues his statement by saying that the policeman involved in the incident said he shot Nahel to stop him from driving off and continuing to put pedestrians in danger.

    Both he and the other policeman said they felt afraid when the car drove off as they were close to the vehicle and were scared of being run over.

    An autopsy showed that Nahel was killed by a single bullet that passed through the arm and the chest.

    However, the prosecutor general says he has determined that there was no lawful use of a weapon.

    Pascal Prache adds that the officer has been placed under formal investigation for voluntary homicide.

  13. Prosecutor gives a recap of events that led to Nahel's deathpublished at 10:17 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    The Nanterre public prosecutor is now giving a statement on the progress in the investigation into the death of Nahel, the teenager killed by police on Tuesday.

    Pascal Prache says that the policeman who shot him is now being investigated for murder. An inquiry is still open against Nahel too, for resisting arrest.

    He also gives an overview of the events that led to Nahel's death on Tuesday morning, starting from when two policemen on motorbikes spotted the BMW vehicle with a Polish number plate and attempted to stop it for a check, both because of the erratic driving and because of the driver's young age.

    The vehicle, in which three people were travelling, refused to comply and started speeding past a red light.

    A chase ensued. The prosecutor says that the vehicle committed various traffic violations and endangered pedestrians. Eventually, the policemen again ordered the driver to stop. When the driver did not, the policemen shot him.

    An ambulance was called, but the driver - Nahel - was declared dead at 09.15. The policeman who shot Nahel turned himself in and was detained.

    One of the passengers was found later in the afternoon; the other is still being sought by police.

  14. Nanterre prosecutor to hold press conferencepublished at 10:04 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    The prosecutor-general of Nanterre will hold a press conference in the next few minutes to share the latest progress in the investigation into the death of 17-year-old Nahel.

    We'll be bringing you the latest from that briefing, so stay with us.

  15. WATCH: Wrecked cars litter streets of Nanterrepublished at 09:54 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    The aftermath of a second night of violent protests can be seen clearly this morning in the Paris suburb Nanterre, where a teenager killed by police on Tuesday was from.

  16. 'Severe damage' and fires in the Lille regionpublished at 09:49 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    The region of Paris and that of Lille, in the north of France, were particularly affected by last night's riots.

    The mayor of Wattrelos, near Lille, Dominique Baert, said that his town has suffered “severe damage”. A community centre and a Lidl supermarket were targeted and “completely destroyed”, as were CCTV cameras. Bins were also set on fire, he said.

    Baert criticised the protests, saying: “They attacked public institutions, centres of social life and places that offer a service to the people."

    In Lille itself, a metro station was damaged by a fire and there has been disruption to public transport.

    And in Mons-en-Baroeul, "around 50 people wearing balaclavas" broke into the city hall and started several fires, the mayor said.

    "We narrowly avoided the worst because the three police agents who were inside managed to escape - both the violence and the fires," Rudy Elegeest told AFP.

  17. Macron calls for calm after 'unjustifiable' violencepublished at 09:31 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    More now from French President Emmanuel Macron, who's been holding a crisis cabinet meeting after another night of street violence following the police shooting of a teenager in Paris.

    "A young boy, Nahel, was killed two days ago, and this has aroused a great deal of emotion. The emotion that accompanies the death of a young man requires reverence and calm, and that's what the government has called for," he said.

    "For me, the next few hours must be a time for reverence and respect.

    "Then there is the protection of places and institutions and the characterisation of what has happened in the last few hours. And then, we need to prepare for the next few days so that complete calm can return."

    Macron has also tweeted , externalto reiterate his message, and says "the next few hours must be guided by reverence, justice and calm".

  18. Hatred of the police is a powerful inflammatory in the banlieuespublished at 09:19 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    Hugh Schofield
    BBC News, Paris

    This is the stuff of bad dreams for President 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 “banlieues”.

    For some years now, the “bad” suburban tenements have been relatively quiescent.

    While the regular travails, like the drug business, crime, low-level disorder, continue pretty much unchecked, there has been no major outburst of violence.

    That is partly because a more fluid economy has created more jobs, partly because of the billions that continue to be spent in upgrading these areas, and partly because there has been no spark.

    But as we can see now, the tinder is dry and hatred of the police is a powerful inflammatory.

    The government’s worst nightmare is an alliance forming, that goes beyond their shared anti-system rhetoric – between the suburban ex-immigration masses and the populist urban left that provided the force behind the pension protests.

    So far there is little sign of that.

    More plausible is another scenario. That from the chaos and the violence, only one figure emerges enhanced – a figure who casts equal obloquy on government, on the far-left and on the rioting banlieusards.

    That figure is of course Marine Le Pen.

  19. 'This looks like a war zone'published at 09:04 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    Sofia Bettiza
    Reporting from Paris

    Aftermath of the riots in Paris this morning

    We can still smell the smoke in the air this morning in Nanterre. The streets are dotted with cars that have been burned, smashed, turned upside down.

    Some of them are charred beyond recognition. Several bins are still on fire.

    There’s smashed glass on the floor, and empty glass bottles that protesters probably threw at the police.

    This is the aftermath of a second night of violent protests in the Paris suburb where a teenage boy was shot dead by police on Tuesday.

    Protesters threw fireworks and firecrackers at the police, who responded with tear gas.

    As the authorities begin to clean up the streets this morning, a local resident walks past and says to a neighbour: “This looks like a war zone.”

    Speaking this morning at a crisis meeting, the French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence.

    But many people in this community are deeply shocked and upset at what happened. Their anger is unlikely to go away any time soon, which means that more clashes could happen in the coming days.

  20. In pictures: Aftermath of protests in Parispublished at 08:54 British Summer Time 29 June 2023

    The damage caused by riots overnight can be seen on the streets of Paris this morning, where the remains of burnt out vehicles and other wreckage lie on the roads of France's capital.

    Aftermath of the riots in Paris this morning
    Aftermath of the riots in Paris this morning
    Aftermath of the riots in Paris this morning