Grandmother of killed French teen pleads with rioters to stop as mayor’s home attacked
The grandmother of a French teenager killed by police during a traffic check appealed with rioters to stop on Sunday, as the country faced a sixth night of turmoil, and officials voiced indignation over the flaming car that targeted a mayor’s home, injuring family members.
“Do not smash windows, attack schools or buses,” Nahel’s grandmother, named only as Nadia, told French news network BFM TV over the phone. Stop! “It’s the mothers who take the bus and walk outside,” she explained.
Adding she was “tired,” Nadia said: “Nahel, he is dead. My daughter had only one child, and now she is lost, it’s over, my daughter no longer has a life. And as for me, they made me lose my daughter and my grandson.”
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She expressed anger at the officer who killed her grandson, but not at the police in general, and expressed trust in the legal system as France undergoes its biggest social unrest in years. Her grandson, identified by his first name, was buried on Saturday.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government has faced five nights of violent protests since Nahel M., 17, was shot dead by an officer during a traffic stop in the Paris district of Nanterre on Tuesday.
The shooting of Nahel M, who was of Algerian heritage, has reignited long-standing allegations of institutional racism within the French police, which rights organisations claim targets minorities during traffic stops.
To address what has become one of Macron’s most serious concerns since taking office in 2017, the interior ministry said that it will deploy 45,000 police and gendarmes nationally from Sunday to Monday, the same number as the previous two nights.
The ministry recorded 719 arrests overnight, almost half of the previous night’s total, but with strong skirmishes still reported in numerous locations, notably the southern city of Marseille, but quieter elsewhere.
‘HORROR AND DISGRACE’
Prosecutors alleged the perpetrators pushed a flaming car into the home of Vincent Jeanbrun, the right-wing mayor of L’Hay-les-Roses outside Paris, with the intention of setting it on fire.
Jeanbrun’s wife and children, aged five and seven, were at home, while the mayor was dealing with the rioting at the town hall. Prosecutors stated the wife was “badly injured” and had a shattered leg.
Prosecutors have launched an inquiry into attempted murder. “Last night, the horror and disgrace reached a new level,” stated the mayor in a statement.
“The situation was much calmer” overall, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told reporters as she visited L’Hay-les-Roses. “But an act of the kind we saw this morning here is particularly shocking. We will let no violence get by” unpunished, she said, urging that the perpetrators be sanctioned with the “utmost severity”.
Following demands on social media to bring the rioting to the centre of the city, 7,000 police officers were deployed throughout Paris and its environs, notably along the Champs Elysees avenue in the capital, a tourist destination.
Police dispersed groups of youngsters Saturday evening at Canebiere, the major road running through the city’s core, according to AFP correspondents in Marseille, which has witnessed heavy fights and looting.
On BFM television, Paris police director Laurent Nunez warned that “no one is declaring victory” despite the quieter evening.
‘NEW CRISIS MEETING’
The protests pose a new challenge for Macron, who had hoped to go ahead with his second-term plans after putting an end to months of protests against increasing the retirement age in January.
The turmoil has sparked international alarm, as France will host the Rugby World Cup in the fall and the Olympic Games in Paris in the summer of 2024.
In an indication of the seriousness of the situation in France, he cancelled a state visit to Germany that was planned to begin on Sunday.
“We are of course looking at (the riots) with concern, and I very much hope, and I am certainly convinced, that the French president will find ways to ensure that this situation improves quickly,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told broadcaster ARD.
Macron will head a crisis meeting with members of his government, according to the Elysee.
In order to reduce violence, buses and trams in France have ceased running after 9:00 p.m., and the sale of huge pyrotechnics has been prohibited. Marseille has suspended all urban transit as of 6:00 p.m.
Macron has encouraged parents to accept responsibility for their children’s participation in the riots, one-third of whom were “young or very young,” while Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has stated that the average age of those detained was just 17.
A 38-year-old police officer has been charged with voluntary homicide in connection with Nahel’s death and is being held in jail.
“This man, like everyone else, must pay.” Those who riot and assault police officers must also be punished. “I believe in justice,” the grandma stated.
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