Grandmother of French teen shot dead by police officer pleads with rioters to stop
PARIS (AP) — The grandmother of the French teenager shot dead by police during a traffic stop pleaded on Sunday with rioters to stop as the nation faced a sixth straight night of unrest, while authorities expressed outrage by the targeting of a mayor’s home with a burning car that injured family members.
The grandmother of 17-year-old Nahel, identified only as Nadia, said in a telephone interview with French news broadcaster BFM TV, “Don’t break windows, buses … schools. We want to calm things down.”
She said she was angry at the officer who killed her grandson but not at the police in general and expressed faith in the justice system as France faces its worst social upheaval in years. Her grandson, identified by only his first name, was buried on Saturday.
READ: France has 5th night of rioting over teen’s killing by police amid signs of subsiding violence
The violence appeared to be lessening. But as a new night approached, the office of Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 45,000 police officers would again be deployed in the streets to counter anger over discrimination against people who trace their roots to former French colonies and live in low-income neighbourhoods. Nahel is of Algerian descent and was shot in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.
President Emmanuel Macron was holding a special security meeting Sunday night, and it was not clear whether he would make public comments. Macron has delayed what would have been the first state visit to Germany by a French president in 23 years, starting Sunday evening.
Police said they made another 719 arrests Saturday night, bringing the total number of people detained to more than 3,000 following a mass security deployment. Hundreds of police and firefighters have been injured in the violence, although authorities haven’t said how many protesters have been hurt.
French authorities were appalled on Sunday after a burning car struck the home of the mayor of the Paris suburb of L’Hay-les-Roses. Several police stations and town halls have been targeted by fires or vandalism in recent days, but such a personal attack on a mayor’s home is unusual.
Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun said his wife and one of his children were injured in the 1:30 am attack while they slept and he was in the town hall monitoring the violence. Jeanbrun, of the conservative opposition Republicans party, said the attack represented a new stage of “horror and ignominy” in the unrest.