Nearly 1,000 arrested on fourth night of unrest as minister vows rioters ‘will not win’

France deployed 45,000 police officers on its streets and almost 1,000 people were arrested on Friday night as rioting raged in cities across the country for a fourth night after the fatal shooting of a teenager.

Violence flared in cities such as Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Lille and Marseille, where rioters looted a gun shop and in French territories overseas including French Guyana, where a 54-year-old died after being hit by a stray bullet.

A statement from the French Interior Ministry early Saturday read: “During the night of June 30 to July 1, thanks to the mobilization of the internal security forces throughout the national territory, the violence committed was of a lower intensity compared to the previous night.

“There are 994 arrests and 79 police officers and gendarmes injured.”

And French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said: “It’s the republic that will win, not the rioters.”

Centaur multi-purpose intervention vehicles were also deployed to try and contain the protests on Friday night.

The previous night 917 people were arrested nationwide, 500 buildings targeted, 2,000 vehicles burned and dozens of stores ransacked.

Unrest has been sparked by the shooting on Tuesday of Nahel M, a teenager of Algerian descent whose funeral will be held on Saturday in his hometown of Nanterre, west of Paris.

The 17-year-old takeaway delivery driver, whose last name has not been made public, was shot by an officer during a traffic stop.

A police officer has been given a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide and is in custody under formal investigation.

The incident, caught on video, has plunged the country into days of unrest and left President Emanuel Macron facing one of the most serious crises of his leadership since the Yellow Vest protests which started in 2018.

Nahel’s mother Mounia M told France 5 television she was angry at the officer but not at the police in general. “He saw a little Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life,” she said.

“A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children’s lives,” she said.

A friend of the family, Mohamed Jakoubi said the rage seen on the streets was fuelled by a sense of injustice after incidents of police violence against minority ethnic communities, many from former French colonies.

“We are fed up, we are French too. We are against violence, we are not scum,” he said.

However, Mr Macron has denied there is systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies and appealed to parents to keep children off the streets on Friday night, blaming social media for fuelling violence.

Friday night’s arrests included 80 people in the southern city of Marseille, home to many people of North African descent.

Social media images showed an explosion rocking Marseille’s old port area.

City authorities said they were investigating the cause but did not believe there were any casualties.

Rioters in central Marseille looted a gun shop, stealing some hunting rifles but no ammunition, police said.

Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan called on the national government to immediately send additional troops. “The scenes of pillaging and violence are unacceptable,” he said in a tweet late on Friday.

In Lyon, France’s third-largest city, a tram was set alight and the police force had to deploy armoured personnel carriers and a helicopter to quell the unrest.

While in Paris, police cleared protesters from the central Place de la Concorde square on Friday night after an impromptu demonstration and 12 buses were gutted in a depot in Aubervilliers, northern Paris.

Firefighters in Nanterre tackled a series of blazes set by protestors, which left scorched remains of cars strewn across the streets and in neighbouring suburb Colombes, rioters overturned rubbish bins and used them for makeshift barricades.

Nanterre Mayor Patrick Jarry said France needs to “push for changes” in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

France’s national football team, including international star Kylian Mbappe, has appealed for an end to the violence.

“Many of us are from working-class neighbourhoods, we too share this feeling of pain and sadness” over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel, the players said in a statement.

“Violence resolves nothing. There are other peaceful and constructive ways to express yourself.”

They said it’s time for “mourning, dialogue and reconstruction” instead.

The UN rights office in Geneva urged French authorities to ensure the use of force by police was non-discriminatory.

“This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement,” spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.

Interior Minister Darmanin had asked local authorities across France to halt bus and tram traffic from 9 pm local time on Friday.

He told broadcaster TF1’s main evening news programme more than 200 police officers had been injured since the unrest erupted and hundreds of rioters and have been arrested, adding their average age was 17.

He has also met representatives from Meta, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok after Macron asked social media to remove “the most sensitive” footage of rioting and to disclose identities of users fomenting violence.

The UK Foreign Office issued new travel advice to would-be visitors to France there could be disruption to road travel and local transport and further curfews may be imposed by some local authorities.

It warns: “Locations and timing of riots are unpredictable. You should monitor the media, avoid areas where riots are taking place, check the latest advice with operators when travelling and follow the advice of the authorities.”

Events including two concerts at the Stade de France on the outskirts of the capital have been cancelled so far. And Tour de France organisers said they were ready to adapt to any situation when the bicycle race enters the country on Monday after starting in the Spanish city of Bilbao.