Hundreds of arrests as Macron resists calls to declare France state of emergency
Hundreds more people have been arrested as riots in France continued for a fourth night following the deadly shooting of a teenager.
Pressure mounted overnight on Friday for President Emmanuel Macron to declare a state of emergency as violent protests continued.
Firefighters in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, where the shooting occurred Tuesday, extinguished blazes set by protesters that left scorched remains of cars strewn across the streets.
In the neighbouring suburb Colombes, protesters overturned bins and used them for makeshift barricades.
Looters during the night broke into a gun shop and made off with weapons, and a man was later arrested with a hunting rifle, police said, and in the southern Mediterranean port city of Marseille, officers arrested nearly 90 people as groups of protesters lit cars on fire and broke store windows to take what was inside.
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Buildings and businesses were also vandalized in the eastern city of Lyon, where a third of the roughly 30 arrests made were for theft, police said.
Authorities reported fires in the streets after an unauthorized protest drew more than 1,000 people earlier in the evening.
Protests have spread all across France, pictured is Caen (AFP via Getty Images)By about 3 a.m., Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told cable news channel BFMTV that 471 arrests were made during the night.
The fatal shooting of the 17-year-old, who has only been identified by his first name, Nahel, was captured on video, stirring up long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects and disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
Nahel's burial is scheduled for today, according to Nanterre Mayor Patrick Jarry, who said France needs to "push for changes" in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
Despite repeated government appeals for calm and stiffer policing, Friday saw more violence.
Hundreds of arrests have been made (AFP via Getty Images)An Apple store was looted in the eastern city of Strasbourg, where police fired tear gas, and the windows of a fast-food outlet were smashed in a Paris-area shopping mall, where officers repelled people trying to break into a shuttered store, authorities said.
Violence was also erupting in some of France's territories overseas.
Some 150 police officers were deployed Friday night on the small Indian Ocean island of Reunion, authorities said, after protesters set bins ablaze, threw projectiles at police and damaged cars and buildings.
French riot police stand guard during clashes in Lyon (AFP via Getty Images)In French Guiana, a 54-year-old was killed by a stray bullet Thursday night when rioters fired at police in the capital, Cayenne, authorities said.
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In the face of the escalating crisis that hundreds of arrests and massive police deployments have failed to quell, Macron held off on declaring a state of emergency, an option that was used in similar circumstances in 2005.
Instead, his government ratcheted up its law enforcement response.
Already massively beefed-up police forces were boosted by another 5,000 officers for Friday night, increasing the number to 45,000 overall, the interior minister said.
Emmanuel Macron has announced measures including more police and urged parents to keep children off the streets (AFP via Getty Images)The minister, Darmanin, said police made 917 arrests on Thursday alone and noted their young age - 17 on average. He said more than 300 police officers and firefighters have been injured.
It was unclear how many protesters have been injured in the clashes.
Darmanin on Friday ordered a nationwide nighttime shutdown of all public buses and trams, which have been among rioters' targets.
He also said he warned social networks not to allow themselves to be used as channels for calls to violence.
Emmanuel Macron (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)"They were very cooperative," Darmanin said, adding that French authorities were providing the platforms with information in hopes of cooperation identifying people inciting violence.
"We will pursue every person who uses these social networks to commit violent acts," he said.
Macron, too, zeroed in on social media platforms that have relayed dramatic images of vandalism and cars and buildings being torched, saying they were playing a "considerable role" in the violence.
The police officer accused of killing Nahel has been handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide. Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude that the officer's use of his weapon wasn't legally justified.
People demonstrate in Concorde (Getty Images)Prache said officers tried to pull Nahel over because he looked so young and was driving a Mercedes with Polish license plates in a bus lane. He allegedly ran a red light to avoid being stopped and then got stuck in traffic.
The officer said he feared he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car as Nahel attempted to flee, according to the prosecutor.
Nahel's mother, identified as Mounia M., told France 5 television that 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, adding that justice should be "very firm."
"A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children's lives," she said.
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