After the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old boy killed by a police officer on June 27, 2023, protesters and law enforcement have clashed over the past two nights. New tensions are feared this Thursday evening and security measures have been taken.
The authorities are preparing for a third night of violence this Thursday, June 29, 2023. The death of Nahel M., the 17-year-old teenager killed by a police officer in Nanterre two days ago, aroused great anger. It was in the Hauts-de-Seine prefecture that the situation first degenerated with 27 and 39 people placed in police custody over the past two nights, but the clashes between civilians and the police supposed to avenge the death of the young man have won other towns in France.
This violence “of particular gravity” according to the public prosecutor of Nanterre, however, has “nothing to do with these stories of Nanterre”, assured the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, at midday. The first cop in France denounced the actions which consist in “attacking schools, burning down a social center, burning down a town hall”. He, like Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne or Head of State Emmanuel Macron, have called for calm in recent days. However, such violence is likely to be repeated in the evening and night of Thursday to Friday, June 30, 2023. Security measures have been taken accordingly.
Images of the riots in Nanterre and in France
40,000 law enforcement officers mobilized in France
“We again mobilized the Ministry of the Interior extremely strongly so that the state’s response was firm” against the violence observed after Nahel’s death, said Gérald Darmanin. In total, 40,000 police and gendarmes are mobilized throughout France to prevent riots, including 5,000 in Paris alone. It is “four times more” than the previous night during which 9,000 law enforcement officers were on the ground, 2,000 on the “Parisian plate”. Among them, 170 men were injured according to the figure put forward by the minister, some seriously but no vital prognosis was engaged.
While members of the police are directly targeted by the riots after Nahel’s death, Gérald Darmanin reiterated “his confidence” in the police, while condemning the actions of the official responsible for the death of the teenager. The police “have been the target of a huge number of attacks, I would remind you that more than a dozen police stations or gendarmerie barracks have been attacked”, continued the Minister before assuring that “this (Thursday) evening, arrests will be made as soon as we see that people want to attack public buildings, police, gendarmes, municipal elected officials”.
Public transport suspended in Ile-de-France
The violence of the previous nights took on the appearance of riots which created a climate of insecurity in the affected towns. They also disrupted certain services such as the circulation of public transport with 11 buses and the trains of a tram set on fire. Damage estimated at several million euros by the president of the Ile-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse. As a precaution, the elected official has decided to suspend the circulation of all buses and trams from 9 p.m. this Thursday, June 29, 2023. An announcement which will greatly disrupt the movement of Parisians.
More than stopping the circulation of public transport, it is a curfew which has been decreed in places, in particular in Clamart, in the Hauts-de-Seine. There, the town hall has instituted a curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. from Thursday June 29 until Monday July 3 to prevent riots.