France protests: 719 arrested in overnight riots, informs ministry
Jul 02, 2023
Paris [France], July 2 : As France continues to remain gripped in intense protests, as many as 719 people were arrested by the police on Saturday in connection with rioting, DW News reported.
The French Interior Ministry said 719 people were arrested amid the riots overnight on Saturday. It also said that 45 police personnel, of some 45,000 deployed for days to control the violence, were injured during the "resolute action, " leading to a "calmer night".
"45000 police and gendarmes and thousands of firefighters were mobilized to protect and guarantee republican order. Their resolute action under the coordination of the prefects made it possible to experience a calmer night," the Interior Ministry said in a tweet.
Amid the heavy protests, the house of a Mayor of Paris was attacked early Sunday morning, CNN reported.
"At 1:30 am, while I was at the city hall like the past three nights, individuals rammed their car upon my residence before setting fire to it to burn my house, inside which my wife and my two young children slept," said the mayor Vincent Jeanbrun of L'Hay-les-Roses, a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris.
"While trying to protect the children and escape the attackers, my wife and one of my children were injured," he said, CNN reported.
Thanking the police and rescue services for their help, the mayor said he had "no words strong enough" to express his emotion "towards the horror of this night."
Protests have erupted in France after the death of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, who was shot by a police officer in Nanterre earlier this week. The funeral of Nahel Merzouk took place at a mosque in Nanterre on Saturday amid heavy security presence.
The death of Nahel Merzouk has sparked a debate on policing in France's marginalised communities and raised questions on whether race played a role in his death, the CNN report said.
The officer who is accused of shooting him was taken to jail. Nahel Merzouk's mother Mounia while speaking to television station France 5 on Friday blamed only the officer who shot her son for his death.
