France endured its worst night of rioting yet on Thursday as violence continued across the country. For the third consecutive evening, youths went on the rampage in most major cities, despite the presence of 40,000 police. Shops were looted, town halls attacked, police stations firebombed and vehicles were hijacked in extraordinary scenes of urban warfare.
The police fought running battles with mobs and made 421 arrests, over half of which were in the capital. The epicentre of the anarchy was in Nanterre, in the west of the city, where on Tuesday morning 17-year-old Nahel was shot dead by police as he sped away from a traffic stop.
The officer who fired the fatal shot has been charged with voluntary manslaughter and remanded in custody. ‘The public prosecutor’s office considers that the legal conditions for the use of the weapon have not been met,’ said the Nanterre public prosecutor at a press conference.
Parts of France are now a dangerous place for the police
The news did not calm the mood among thousands of people who attended a march in the memory of Nahel on Thursday afternoon.
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