Paris riots today- latest: ‘We are at war with vermin’ France police say as violence rages after teenager shooting

Nearly 1,000 people were arrested across France overnight as police claimed they were “at war”, while the family of a teenager was shot dead on Saturday by an officer preparing for his funeral.

Home Secretary Gerald Darmanin announced Saturday morning that 994 people had been arrested and 79 injured in the fourth straight night of clashes across the country.

The violence was sparked by the killing of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, who will be buried near her home in the north-west Parisian suburb of Nanterre on Saturday after an Islamic ceremony.

There he was shot in the chest last Tuesday while driving a stationary Mercedes.

The officer responsible, Florian M., 38, remains in custody and is charged with murder.

An additional 45,000 police officers were deployed across the country, including several armed paramilitary units.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Saturday: “France will win, not the rioters.”

In turn, police claimed in a leaked intelligence report that they were “confronted with feral hordes of vermin” who want to attack them and destroy as much property as possible.

The British Foreign Office has warned British tourists about the dangers of traveling to France.

Rioters attacked an Apple store in Strasbourg, France, on Friday (June 30) after a 17-year-old man of Algerian and Moroccan descent was shot dead by a police officer in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday.

A La Presse Libre video shows people throwing rocks and breaking into the store.

It comes as riots have erupted across the country for four straight nights after the death of the teenager, who has been dubbed Nahel Merzouk, was caught on video.

The officer responsible – identified as Florian M., 38 – is in custody for murder.

Graffiti in Nanterre, the Paris suburb where Nahel was shot dead by a police officer, illustrates the anger that erupted there after the 17-year-old’s killing and quickly spread across the country.

The teen’s fatal shooting sparked long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects who are struggling with poverty, unemployment and racial discrimination.

On one wall in the area, “Human Rights Land” has been crossed out and replaced with “Police Immunity Land,” while another graffiti reads, “The lives of suburban youth matter.”

Riots raged across France for the fourth night as family and friends prepared to bury the 17-year-old whose killing by police sparked the riots.

Despite a massive deployment of 45,000 police officers on the country’s streets, cars and buildings were torched and shops looted, while the Home Office announced 994 arrests nationwide by early Saturday.

Nahel Merzouk, 17, is buried after an Islamic ceremony near his home in the northwest Paris suburb of Nanterre, where he was shot in the chest while driving a stationary Mercedes last Tuesday.

During the night there were clashes between demonstrators and the police in Marseille, Lyon and Grenoble, with shops also being looted, according to the security forces.

In Lyon, the French authorities dispatched members of RAID – an elite police tactical unit.

French media reported that two police officers had been attacked in Marseille and a total of 95 people had been arrested.

Violence also shook Paris. Videos shot and shown in the 18th arrondissement, a central area of ​​Paris The Independent showed groups of young people burning tires and launching firecrackers at security forces in the early hours of Saturday morning.

France deployed 45,000 police officers and some armored vehicles on the streets on Saturday as riots erupted in French cities for the fourth night of the night after a police officer fatally shot a youth during a traffic stop.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, in response to the unrest, ordered a nationwide overnight closure of all public buses and trams and deployed 5,000 police officers, bringing the total to 45,000.

President Emmanuel Macron has urged parents to keep teenagers at home. While his government is considering “all options” to restore order after rioters set fire to cars and buildings and looted shops across France after police killed a teenager during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb in a third night of violence across France .

As of Friday, there had been more than 800 arrests across the country and Mr Macron said a significant portion of them had been you. Police and firefighters struggled throughout the night to contain the protesters and put out numerous fires that damaged schools, police stations, city halls and other public buildings. There was also looting in several places, including central Paris.

Read Chris Stevenson’s full article here:

China’s state-sponsored Global Times reported today that a bus carrying 41 Chinese tourists was attacked in Marseille, France, as unrest continued overnight.

Global Times also shared a video on Twitter showing a bus with Chinese tourists driving cautiously through the streets. The window of the bus was visibly cracked.

Meanwhile, it was reported that Friday night’s rioting had calmed down across France.

The mother of the teenager who was shot dead by a police officer at close range in a French suburb has spoken out for the first time.

Nahel M.’s mother, who was just Mounia, told France 5 television: “I don’t blame the police, I blame one person: the person who took my son’s life.”

The 38-year-old officer, meanwhile, was arrested Thursday and charged with involuntary manslaughter. The mother claimed that he “saw an Arab face, a small child, and wanted to take his life”.