Special police units are being sent to the French city of Nanterre, where mass riots are taking place after a teenager was shot by the French police, a French newspaper reported on Thursday, citing security sources.
Special units of the French national police — the GIGN (National Gendarmerie Intervention Group), RAID (Research, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence), and BRI (Research and Intervention Brigade) — have been sent to Nanterre, according to the newspaper.
The second day of unrest in Nanterre, in the western suburbs of Paris, began with a peaceful silent march that descended into chaos when hundreds of violent protesters attacked riot police with rocks and glass bottles. Police responded by firing tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades at the raging mob. A Sputnik correspondent said that several people had been detained.
A curfew was announced in the town of Clamart, south of Paris, as tensions rose ahead of what is looking to become a third night of violence. The local authorities said that residents were to stay indoors between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. from Thursday night through Monday. Public facilities will be closed and mass events canceled through Sunday.
The commune of Compiegne, north of Paris, followed suit with a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew that will be in place through Monday for unaccompanied children under 16 years of age.
Earlier in the day, French President Emmanuel Macron called the violence in the country after a teenager was killed by the police “unjustifiable” and called for calm.
On Tuesday, a 17-year-old boy was shot in Nanterre after he refused to comply with police instructions. Media reported that the boy was driving a rental car and broke several traffic rules. On Thursday, a protest march in memory of the killed teenager is taking place in Nanterre, that soon escalated into violent clashes between radicals and the police. Later, mass protests sparked across France, with at least 150 protesters detained by police as of Thursday.
Meanwhile, French media reported that a police officer who shot dead the teenager was placed in pre-trial detention, with a criminal case of intentional homicide opened against him.
“Investigators concluded that the legal conditions for the usage of firearms had not been observed,” the Nanterre prosecutor said at a press conference.
The autopsy showed that the teenager had died from a single shot by the officer, the prosecutor stated, adding that no drugs or other illegal substances had been detected during the search of his car.
