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Police make 1,000 arrests on ‘less intense’ fourth night of rioting in France

Almost 1,000 people were arrested in a fourth night of rioting in France on Friday, although the country's interior minister claims that the clashes were 'less intense' than earlier in the week. The French national football team has issued an appeal for calm.

Published: 1 July 2023 10:12 CEST
Police make 1,000 arrests on 'less intense' fourth night of rioting in France
A French police officer in riot gear looks on next to burnt cars at the Pablo Picasso neighbourhood in Nanterre on Saturday morning. Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP

France was once again gripped by rioting in towns and cities across the country on Friday night, despite a series of restrictions imposed by the government including a ban on the sale of fireworks, ending public transport at 9pm and the cancellation of large gatherings.

Buildings and vehicles were set on fire in multiple towns, and police targeted with a hail of fireworks and missiles. Looting, which had been sporadic on Thursday night became widespread on Friday.

In total 994 people were arrested and 97 police officers injured, according to interior minister Gérald Darmanin, who described the clashes as “less intense” than on previous nights.

READ ALSO Should I cancel my trip to France because of riots?

The city of Marseille called for extra police reinforcements after a series of clashes and police in Paris fired tear gas on the central Rue du Rivoli to disperse an unauthorised gathering calling for ‘justice for Nahel’ – the 17-year-old boy shot by police on Tuesday, whose death proved the spark for days of rioting.

The French national football team has published an appeal for calm, urging people not to destroy their own communities.

Les Bleus said they were “shocked by the brutal death of young Nahel” but asked that violence give way to “other peaceful and constructive ways of expressing oneself”.

Team captain Kylian Mbappé, who grew up in the tough Paris suburb of Bondy, had earlier said he was “sick for his country” after the death of Nahel.

The teenager’s death – shot at point blank range during a traffic stop – has ignited long-running anger about violence from French police, especially towards young men of colour in the deprived suburbs.

The French government has defended its police force after a UN spokesman said France must examine the “deep racism” within the force. Meanwhile the country’s largest police union released a statement referring to the rioters as “vermin” who they were “at war” with.

Looting and clashes between hooded protesters and police occurred in Paris and its suburbs, Marseille, Grenoble, Dijon, Tours, Saint-Etienne and Lyon and also in numerous smaller towns including Angers and Auxerre. Police in Belgium also announced 100 arrests following demonstrations over the death of Nahel at a football match.

In the Paris suburb of Nanterre – the scene of Nahel’s shooting and where the riots began – nine people were arrested carrying jerry cans and Molotov cocktails. The government on Friday announced a nationwide ban of all petrol in cans, until further notice.

In Saint-Denis, an administrative centre was affected by a fire, and in Val-d’Oise, the Persan-Beaumont town hall and municipal police station caught fire and were partly destroyed.

Saturday night will again see a large police presence and certain restrictions remain in place, including the ending of bus and tram services at 9pm across the country, a ban on the sale of fireworks and petrol in cans and the cancellation of large events including concerts.

Across the country many business – especially supermarkets and McDonald’s – took the decision to close early on Friday.

READ ALSO What to expect this weekend in France

Nahel’s funeral will take place in Nanterre on Saturday. 

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POLITICS

Why is France accusing Azerbaijan of stirring tensions in New Caledonia?

France's government has no doubt that Azerbaijan is stirring tensions in New Caledonia despite the vast geographical and cultural distance between the hydrocarbon-rich Caspian state and the French Pacific territory.

Published: 17 May 2024 08:48 CEST
Why is France accusing Azerbaijan of stirring tensions in New Caledonia?

Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.

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