Peak of protests in Frace over police killing is over - Macron

  04 July 2023    Read: 1613
Peak of protests in Frace over police killing is over - Macron

The peak of protests following last week’s police killing of a teenager of North African descent has passed, the French president reportedly said Tuesday, AzVision.az reports citing Anadolu Agency.

"We must get down to restoring the sustainable order as our absolute priority," Emmanuel Macron told a group of mayors of towns where violence has occurred, according to French broadcaster BFMTV.

"I will be cautious for the following days and weeks but the peak has passed," Macron added, addressing 241 mayors at Paris’ Elysee Palace.

The French police arrested 72 more people overnight in nationwide protests over the killing of a 17-year-old by police gunfire last week, local media reported on Tuesday.

According to Interior Ministry figures provided to Le Figaro daily, since June 27 police arrested a total of 3,846 people, and nearly 5,900 vehicles were set on fire nationwide, as well as 1,105 buildings.

Over 260 polices stations were also targeted and 808 law enforcement officers were injured since the beginning of the protests.

Protests have rocked France since June 27, when a police officer shot dead Nahel M., 17, of Algerian descent during a traffic check in the Paris suburb of Nanterre after he allegedly ignored orders to stop.

The officer who fired the shot faces a formal investigation for voluntary homicide and has been placed under preliminary detention.

The protest began in Nanterre and spread to other cities the next evening, including Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, and Marseille.

Tensions rose following clashes between police and protesters.


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