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9m ago
(15:59 GMT)Macron appeals to parents, social media firms to end riots
The French president says a third of those arrested during the rioting are ‘very young’ people who are ‘intoxicated’ by video games.
Appealing to social media firms, Macron said: “Platforms and networks are playing a major role in the events of recent days.”
Read more here.
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28m ago
(15:40 GMT)France rejects UN accusation of police ‘racism’
The French government has said it rejected UN accusations of racism among its police.
“Any accusation of racism or systemic discrimination in the police force in France is totally unfounded,” the foreign ministry said.
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43m ago
(15:25 GMT)Looters ransacks Strasbourg stores amid riots
Looters ransacked shops including an Apple store in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, a local official has said.
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1h ago
(15:05 GMT)France says police to use armoured vehicles against riots
French police will use armoured vehicles to suppress riots, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said.
“Additional mobile forces” would be deployed along with the vehicles belonging to France’s gendarmerie, Borne said, also announcing the cancellation of “large-scale events binding personnel and potentially posing risks to public order”.
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1h ago
(14:42 GMT)Nahel M was shot because of his ‘origins, ethnicity’: Activist
Hala Bounaid Ja-Rachedi, a social justice activist, said people of colour are “facing something cyclical”.
“It happens again and again and again in France,” she told Al Jazeera from Paris.
“Police kill our children and our men – we, people of colour,” she said.
“So we have young men – Nahel was a teenager. … He’s French, but if we look at his origins or ethnicity, he’s also North African, and that’s why he’s been shot by the police,” Ja-Rachedi said.
Young people want to “feel free, to move, to go out – they just want equal rights”, she added.
“We are – as activists, as people of colour, as people living in the suburbs – we are angry and tired.”
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1h ago
(14:28 GMT)France to halt bus, tram traffic on Friday night
France’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, has asked prefects in the whole country to halt public transport with busses and trams from 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT), his office confirmed when asked by the Reuters news agency following local media reports.
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2h ago
(13:59 GMT)Macron calls on parents to ‘talk to their children’: AJ correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler, reporting from Nanterre, said Macron has called on parents to “talk to their children and try and urge their children to stay indoors”.
He made these remarks after meeting with his ministers to try and find ways to stop the unrest.
“What police are saying is that many of those who are involved in the violence are quite young, between the ages of 14 and 18,” Butler said.
“Police say that they seem to be a very organised, very motivated,” she added.
According to her, Macron also said there will be more police officers deployed across the country.
What the French leader did not allow, she said, was implementing a state of emergency at this time.
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3h ago
(13:07 GMT)Macron calls on parents to keep child rioters off the streets
French President Emmanuel Macron has called on parents to keep child rioters off the streets, adding that about a third of the 875 people arrested overnight for rioting were “young, or very young”.
“It’s the responsibility of parents to keep them at home,” he told reporters after chairing a crisis security meeting. “It’s not the state’s job to act in their place,” he added, urging social media companies to remove the “most sensitive” content related to the rioting.
Macron also said that additional security forces would be deployed to contain nationwide unrest in the wake of a teen’s killing by police.
4h ago
(12:07 GMT)UK warns nationals of travel disruptions amid unrest in France
The United Kingdom has warned its nationals travelling to France of disruptions to road transport, including possible curfews.
“There may be disruptions to road travel and local transport provision may be reduced,” the British government’s foreign office said in travel advice posted online.
“Some local authorities may impose curfews. Locations and timing of riots are unpredictable. You should monitor the media, avoid areas where riots are taking place.”
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4h ago
(11:56 GMT)Mayor of Nanterre calls for solutions to break ‘cycle of violence’
The mayor of Nanterre has expressed his sorrow for the death of Nahel M and the riots that ensued, during a meeting with Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.
“The emotions and the anger felt after Nahel’s death are always alive and shared by the whole population,” Patrick Jarry said, according to French newspaper Le Figaro. “We must continue to support this family, this mum who is going to bury her son tomorrow.”
“At the same time, I have come to relay the sadness and desolation of the residents for the violence and degradation,” he added. “There is an urgency to find the words to exit this cycle of violence.”
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