Rioting across France was less intense overnight, the interior ministry said on Sunday, as tens of thousands of police were deployed following the funeral of a teenager of North African descent whose shooting by police has sparked nationwide unrest.
The government poured 45,000 police onto the streets to try to keep a lid on a fifth night of unrest after Saturday's funeral of Nahel, a 17-year-old with Algerian and Moroccan parents, who was shot during a traffic stop on Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.
Since then rioters have torched cars and looted stores, but also targeted town halls, police stations and schools - buildings that represent the French state.
President Emmanuel Macron postponeda state visit to Germany that was due to have begun on Sunday to handle the worst crisis for his leadership since the "Yellow Vest" protests paralysed much of France in late 2018.
He was due to meet his ministers on Sunday evening to review the situation, the presidency said, after the prime minister said on Friday the government's "crisis unit" had been activated until further notice.
Nahel's death has fed longstanding complaints of police violence and systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies from rights groups and within the low-income, racially mixed suburbs that ring major cities in France. Authorities deny that.
An officer has acknowledged firing a lethal shot, the prosecutor says, telling investigators he wanted to prevent a police chase, fearing he or another person would be hurt. The officer involved is under investigation for voluntary homicide.
The interior ministry said 719 people were arrested on Saturday night, fewer than the 1,311 the previous night and 875 on Thursday night.
"Forty-five thousand police officers and thousands of firefighters have been mobilised to enforce order. Their action ... made for a quieter night," the ministry said on Twitter.
Paris' police chief said it was too early to say the unrest had been quashed. "There was evidently less damage but we will remain mobilised in the coming days. We are very focused, nobody is claiming victory," Laurent Nunez said.
Reuters
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