Riots erupted across France for a second night over a police-involved shooting of a 17-year-old last week, resulting in 1,300 arrests, as top police unions warned that the country is "at war." Meanwhile, the mayor of a Parisian suburb claimed that rioters attempted to assassinate him and his family members.
Riots erupted across France for a second night over a police-involved shooting of a 17-year-old last week, resulting in 1,300 arrests, as top police unions warned that the country is "at war." Meanwhile, the mayor of a Parisian suburb claimed that rioters attempted to assassinate him and his family members.
Over the weekend, top French police unions, Alliance Police Nationale and UNSA Police, declared that cops are "at war with vermin" and planned a strike over how the government is handling the protests. "The police are fighting today because we are at war." "We will begin resistance tomorrow, and the government should be aware of this," the unions said in a statement to The Telegraph.
“Now is not the time for industrial action but for fighting against these ‘vermin,'” the union statement also said, responding to French President Emmanuel Macron’s reluctance to declare a state of emergency.
“Restoring the republican order and putting the apprehended beyond the capacity to harm should be the only political signals to give. In the face of such exactions, the police family must stand together. Our colleagues, like the majority of citizens, can no longer bear the tyranny of these violent minorities,” the union’s statement also said, according to a translation.
At the same moment, the mayor of the southern Paris neighborhood of L'Hay-les-Roses, Vincent Jeanbrun, said that protesters attempted to kill him and his family, which included two small children. Jeanbrun said he was at home when it was set on fire while his wife and children were sleeping, calling the event a "assassination attempt."
"Last night, a watershed moment in horror and ignominy was reached." "My house was attacked, and my family was the target of a botched assassination attempt," he posted on social media. Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmani acknowledged over the weekend that an inquiry had been launched, according to The Independent.
It happened as protests in France raged for a sixth night on Saturday and Sunday, with officials confirming that 45,000 police personnel were deployed across numerous towns.
There have been several stories and video evidence of rioters torching buildings, looting, attacking cops, assaulting bystanders, and seizing vehicles, as well as unsubstantiated videos of rioters armed with firearms. Because France has tight gun-control rules, it's unclear how they got the rifles.
Following a massive security deployment aimed at quelling France's greatest social disturbance in years, police made 719 arrests statewide by early Sunday.
The 17-year-old whose murder caused the unrest on Tuesday was put to rest in a Muslim ceremony in Nanterre, a Paris suburb, on Saturday. He has only been identified in public by his first name, Nahel.
As night set Saturday, a small crowd assembled on the Champs-Elysees to protest his murder and police brutality, but they were greeted by hundreds of cops using batons and shields who guarded the boulevard and its stores. Protesters blew off firecrackers and set barricades on fire in a less upscale Paris district, as police responded with tear gas and stun grenades.
A blazing automobile struck the mayor's residence in the Paris district of L'Hay-les-Roses. Several schools, police stations, town halls, and shops have been attacked in recent days by arson or vandalism, but a personal attack on a mayor's residence is exceptional.
Macron intended to conduct a special security meeting with Borne, Darmanin, and the justice minister on Sunday evening. Macron has blamed violence on social media and video games. The French justice minister has warned that young people who spread violent calls on Snapchat or other applications may face punishment.
According to the Interior Ministry, skirmishes erupted in the Mediterranean city of Marseille but were less serious than the night before. A larger police presence was present, and 55 individuals were detained.
Nationwide arrests were fewer than the previous night. Darmanin attributed this to "the resolute action of security forces."
A World War II monument in Nanterre honoring Holocaust victims and members of the French resistance that was vandalized on the sidelines of a silent march to pay tribute to Nahel on Thursday was still defaced on Sunday with slogans such as "Police scum," "Don't forgive or forget," and "Police, rapists, assassins."
The European Jewish Congress condemned the graffiti as a "shameful act of disrespect for the memory of Holocaust victims."
