Mayors and citizens are invited to gather on Monday on the forecourt of all town halls in France. The latter will sound their sirens, announced this Sunday the president of the Association of mayors of France. “The AMF has decided to call on elected officials and the population to mobilize, we are not giving up […] and as such we have decided with […] all the mayors of France to call for a rally on the squares of the town halls, […] we continue our work on a daily basis so that order returns”, declared David Lisnard on TF1, a few hours after the car-ram attack on the home of the mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne). ), Vincent Jeanbrun (LR), on the night of Saturday to Sunday. His wife and one of his two young children were injured
The Créteil prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into attempted murder. The elected official denounced in a press release published on Twitter “an assassination attempt of unspeakable cowardice”. “Last night, a milestone was reached in horror and ignominy,” said the mayor of this city of more than 30,000 inhabitants. “While my priority today is to take care of my family, my determination to protect and serve the Republic is greater than ever,” he continued.
The government will “not let any violence pass”, promised Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who went to L’Haÿ-les-Roses with Gérald Darmanin. “The greatest firmness” will be applied in the sanctions, she said.
Some 719 people were arrested in the night from Saturday to Sunday, during the fifth evening of violence after the death of Nahel, killed Tuesday in Nanterre by a policeman during a traffic check, indicated the Ministry of the Interior in still a provisional report. At this stage, 45 police and gendarmes have been injured, 577 vehicles and 74 buildings have been set on fire, while 871 fires have been recorded on public roads, the ministry added. In addition, 10 police stations, 10 gendarmerie barracks and 6 municipal police stations were targeted.
The wave of nocturnal urban violence has slightly marked time, a few hours after the burial of the young man on Saturday, away from the cameras. At 3:30 am, the Ministry of the Interior had not identified any major incidents and reported 486 arrests throughout the country, in particular for carrying objects likely to be used as weapons or projectiles. “Quieter night thanks to the resolute action of the police,” rejoiced Gérald Darmanin on his Twitter account. In the night from Friday to Saturday, the police had made more than 1,300 arrests – a record figure since Tuesday.
For the second night in a row, the Minister had renewed a system of 45,000 police and gendarmes, including 7,000 in Paris and the inner suburbs, and substantial reinforcements in Marseille and Lyon, the main cities affected the day before by the clashes, destruction or looting. Few incidents were reported in these two cities.
On the famous Canebière in particular, large numbers of law enforcement, supported by the elite units of the Raid and the GIGN (gendarmerie) managed to disperse the groups of young people who had sown chaos the day before, noted AFP journalists. “We are not witnessing yesterday’s looting scenes at all,” commented the Bouches-du-Rhône police headquarters, counting 56 arrests around midnight.
Few serious incidents in the Paris suburbs
In Paris, an important device has been deployed along the Champs-Elysées, where calls to gather have been circulating since Friday on social networks, noted an AFP journalist. All along the avenue, small groups of young people dressed in black strolled under the eyes of CRS in front of the shops, whose storefronts were protected with wooden planks. Behind black railings, the famous Le Fouquet’s restaurant normally welcomed its customers for dinner.
Few serious incidents have been reported in the Parisian suburbs, the starting point of the riots. Police officers were however the target of mortar fireworks in Vigneux (Essonne). According to the Ministry of the Interior, 194 people had been arrested at 2:30 a.m. in Paris and its suburbs.
In this climate, Emmanuel Macron announced Saturday to his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier the postponement of his state visit scheduled for Sunday evening to Tuesday. The head of state made a series of phone calls on Saturday afternoon to mayors of the country, worried about the spiral of violence that is shaking the country.
In an attempt to curb it, many municipalities have instituted a curfew and public transport networks have been closed earlier than expected, in particular that of Ile-de-France buses and trams from 9 p.m. Several European countries, including Britain, have updated their travel advice advising them not to travel to areas affected by the violence.
The Chinese consulate in Marseille also urged Chinese citizens to ‘be vigilant and exercise caution’ after state media reported that a bus carrying Chinese tourists in Marseille had been targeted by jets of stones on Thursday.
On Saturday, Nahel was buried at the end of the afternoon in the Mont-Valérien cemetery in Nanterre in the presence of his mother, his grandmother and several hundred people during a ceremony “very calm, in meditation and without overflow,” a witness told AFP. The 38-year-old police officer, author of the shot that killed the 17-year-old young man, was indicted for intentional homicide and remanded in custody on Thursday afternoon.