Some 994 people were arrested overnight from Friday to Saturday during urban violence of “less intensity”, four days after the death of young Nahel, killed on Tuesday by a police officer, said the Ministry of the Interior. Of these 994 arrests, 406 took place in Paris and the inner suburbs. There were “79 police officers and gendarmes injured”, added the ministry, in a still provisional report.
A total of 1,350 vehicles were set on fire, 234 buildings burned or damaged and 2,560 fires recorded on public roads, according to the same source. The ministry also recorded 31 attacks on police stations, 16 attacks on municipal police stations and 11 on gendarmerie barracks. Lyon and Marseille are the two cities most affected by the violence. Here is the recap of this fourth night of urban violence.
In Ile-de-France
Among the highlights of Place Beauvau, a nursery was degraded in Conflans-Saint-Honorine and a local Restos du Coeur in Chanteloup-les-Vignes (Yvelines). Enedis offices and vehicles were also burned in Nanterre. An attempted intrusion took place in the premises of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ), located in Nanterre. There, the night was characterized by sporadic firing of fireworks mortars as well as attempts to erect barricades. Nine people were arrested there by police officers from the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) in possession of a jerry can of gasoline and Molotov cocktails, the Paris police headquarters said on Twitter.
In Seine-Saint-Denis, clashes broke out in many municipalities, with “significant activity” in the areas of Aulnay-sous-Bois, Sevran and Bondy, according to a police source. There, groups of young people attacked and looted a Conforama department store. In downtown Bobigny, sporadic mortar fire rang out for nearly two hours past midnight behind the barricaded town hall, another AFP journalist noted.
In Seine-et-Marne, firefighters fought against the fire of a 1,500m2 shopping center in Dammarie-les-Lys, protected by the police. In the Val-d’Oise, the town hall of Persan and the municipal police station were burned and largely destroyed.
In Lyon
According to a still partial assessment at 4 a.m., 58 people were arrested in the Lyon area, where the Raid and the BRI but also the helicopter and the armored vehicles of the gendarmerie had been deployed to try to put an end to the scenes of chaos. in the city center.
In the 4th arrondissement of Lyon, near the city center, a complaint post “was the subject of intrusion and damage”, according to the prefecture. In Vénissieux, the CRS were attacked by dozens of people, and the clashes also spread to several other localities including Villeurbanne (east) or Givors (south).
In Grenoble
In Grenoble, 28 people were also arrested, the prefecture said overnight, also reporting violence in Echirolles, on the outskirts. Until late at night, clashes opposed gangs of young people often hooded, moving around or on scooters and firing dozens of mortars towards the police who responded with tear gas canisters.
The streets of the hyper-centre were littered with abandoned shoe boxes, shattered mannequins and shattered glass after thugs and looters ran past, arms laden with their loot.
In Bordeaux
No heavy clashes in Bordeaux. Only a few skirmishes and burnt trash cans. The night had nothing to do with the previous one. To avoid further excesses, the prefect of New Aquitaine, Etienne Guyot, had banned undeclared parades and gatherings in the city center. Despite this, a few hundred people gathered at the start of the evening on Place de la Bourse, in the heart of Bordeaux “in tribute to Nahel” and to “fight against racist violence by the State and police violence”.
After dispersing the procession, a hundred demonstrators lit trash can fires and tried to break a window in the busy shopping street Sainte-Catherine. Fireworks were also fired at the police.
In the city of Aubiers, in the north of the city, as in the Grand Parc district, the situation is also very calm compared to the day before. Around midnight and a half in Talence, a town bordering Bordeaux, where explosions of fireworks have been ringing since the end of the evening, a helicopter pointed its spotlight at a group of young people. According to the police, they were trying to enter a supermarket. A little further on, others targeted CRS trucks with fireworks.
In Marseille
Looting, throwing projectiles at police vehicles, tear gas, etc. Marseille had a very tense night. Around 2 a.m., the police announced 88 arrests since the start of the evening, groups of young people, often masked and “very mobile”. Four police officers were slightly injured.
Groups of young people, many with headscarves or face masks, gathered in the city center, in particular on the Canebière, a famous artery leading to the Old Port. Shouting “Everyone hates the police,” they approached law enforcement vans. Some threw projectiles at the vans and the police responded with a few tear gas shots. Several shops were looted, including that of the luxury brand Lancel, according to an AFP photographer. A few hunting weapons were also stolen from an armory but without ammunition, according to the police headquarters. In the air, the gendarmerie surveillance helicopter flew over the city, relayed by a police plane.
Later that night, groups attempted to break into the large Les Terrasses du Port shopping center. Near the city of Flamingos, a fire “linked to the riots”, affected an Aldi supermarket, according to a police source. “There is a general conflagration” and the firefighters confirm to AFP that they have deployed significant resources to extinguish the flames.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced “significant reinforcements”, ie a CRS company, an overflight helicopter. Marseille Pride, which was scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed to an unspecified date.
And elsewhere too
In Côte d’Or, nine people were arrested in Dijon and Beaune, and 16 cars were set on fire and a bakery was vandalized in Beaune. Violence also occurred in Mâcon, Saint-Etienne, Sens, Auxerre, Saint-Florentin, Joigny, Migennes and Tonnerre, or in Albertville and Chambéry in Savoie. In Yonne, “several police stations and gendarmerie brigades were targeted without significant damage being caused”. In Saint-Florentin, a DIY store was set on fire.
In Ardèche, the violence also affected several municipalities including Privas, where a truck from the social landlord Ardèche Habitat was set on fire, Annonay where 12 vehicles were burned. The security forces responded with LBD fire and tear gas. The public prosecutor was seized.