Unrest erupted in France for the second night in a row, with thousands of security personnel deployed to prevent additional violent protests after the death shooting of a teenager by police.
A 17-year-old was shot in the chest at point-blank range on Tuesday morning, prompting the deployment of 2,000 riot police in Paris neighborhoods.
The killing provoked riots and arson assaults in many Paris neighbourhoods overnight Tuesday, leading to 31 arrests and the injuries of 24 police officers.
Trash bins were set on fire and fireworks were set off in the western district of Nanterre, as well as other communes in the Hauts-de-Seine region to the west of Paris and in the eastern city of Dijon, overnight on Wednesday.
According to authorities, a group of persons set fire to a bus in the Essonne district to the south of the city after all of the passengers got off.
According to a police source, numerous automobiles were set on fire in the southern city of Toulouse, and responding officers and firefighters were showered with objects as dense black smoke billowed high into the sky.
Police reported just after midnight that about 16 people had been apprehended across the country.
Celebrities, including star player Kylian Mbappe, voiced indignation and grief after the teenager’s death, while the government issued rare criticism of security personnel in an attempt to defuse tensions. “A teenager was killed. That is inexplicable and unforgivable,” President Emmanuel Macron said during an official visit to Marseille, southern France.
“Nothing can justify the death of a young person.”
The victim, named as Nahel M. from the western Paris suburb of Nanterre, was pulled over by two policemen for breaking traffic rules while driving a yellow Mercedes on Tuesday morning.
Police initially reported that an officer had shot at the teenager because he was driving his car at him, but this version of events was contradicted by a video circulating on social media and authenticated by AFP.
