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Elsewhere, a burning car hit the home of the mayor of the Paris suburb of L’Hay-les-Roses. Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun said his wife and one of his children were asleep during the 1.30am attack; the mayor himself was awake and monitoring violence in the area.
Schools, police stations, town halls and stores across the country have been targeted by fires or vandalism in recent days.
Jeanbrun, of the conservative opposition Parti Republicain, said the attack represented a new stage of “horror and ignominy” in the unrest, and urged the government to impose a state of emergency.
Regional prosecutor Stephane Hardouin opened an investigation into attempted murder over the attack, telling French television that a preliminary investigation suggested the car was meant to ram the house and set it ablaze. He said a flame accelerant was found in a bottle in the car.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne joined Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and other officials in visiting L’Hay-les-Roses on Sunday to meet Jeanbrun, promising to “do everything to bring order back as soon as possible.”
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Macron planned to hold a special security meeting Sunday evening with Borne, Darmanin and the justice minister.
Skirmishes also erupted in the Mediterranean city of Marseille, but appeared less intense than the night before, according to the Interior Ministry. A bolstered police contingent arrested 55 people there.
Nationwide arrests were lower than previous nights. Darmanin attributed that to “the resolute action of security forces.”
More than 3000 people have been detained overall since the police shooting on Tuesday. The mass police deployment has been welcomed by some frightened residents of targeted neighbourhoods and shop owners whose stores have been ransacked – but it has also further frustrated those who see police behaviour as the core of France’s current crisis.
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Hundreds of police and firefighters have been injured in the violence, although authorities haven’t said how many protesters have been hurt. In French Guiana, an overseas territory, a 54-year-old died after being hit by a stray bullet.
On Saturday, Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti warned that young people who share calls for violence on Snapchat or other apps could face prosecution. Macron has blamed social media for, in part, fuelling violence.
While concerts at the national stadium and smaller events around the country were cancelled because of the violence and some neighbourhoods suffered serious damage, life in other parts of France went on as usual.
Fans tuned into the start of the Tour de France cycling race in neighbouring Spain; Marseille hosted a championship in pétanque – a game similar to lawn bowl; and families headed for summer holidays.
In the capital, tourists thronged to the Eiffel Tower, where workers set up a nearby clock counting down to next year’s Paris Olympics. A short walk from Nanterre, a shopping mall bustled on Sunday with customers from all walks of life.
The reaction to the killing was a potent reminder of the persistent poverty, discrimination and limited job prospects in some neighbourhoods around France where many trace their roots to former French colonies.
In 2005, France was shaken by weeks of riots prompted by the death of two teenagers who were electrocuted in a power substation in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois while fleeing police.
“I feel hate toward the police officer who killed Nahel. He wanted to kill him,” said 15-year-old Abdel Moucer, a Clichy resident. “In 2005, when Zyed and Bouna were killed, we had no video and no social media. Today we have all seen what happened.”
But Moucer lamented the recent violence and the damage it has wrought on disadvantaged towns like his. “I feel sad, I don’t know why they set the town hall on fire,” he said.
At the foot of a bridge near the Eiffel Tower where generations of couples have attached padlocks to symbolise lasting love, a Senegalese man selling cheap locks and keys shook his head when asked if the latest police killing and the ensuing violence would change anything.
“I doubt it,” he said, giving only his first name, Demba, for fear of retaliation. “The discrimination is too profound.”
AP
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