France braces for new violence as teen laid to rest

French authorities on July 2 (Saturday) prepared for a fifth consecutive night of rioting by sending reinforcements to flashpoint cities. as the 17-year-old whose killing by a policeman sparked the violent protests was laid to rest.

French authorities on July 2 (Saturday) prepared for a fifth consecutive night of rioting by sending reinforcements to flashpoint cities as the 17-year-old whose killing by a policeman sparked the violent protests was laid to rest.

Police arrested 1,311 people overnight Friday to Saturday, the highest figure since the violent protests began over the point-blank killing by a policeman of Nahel M. in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday.

Shops were ransacked and town halls attacked in various locations nationwide by gangs, often made up of teens organised on social media and armed with fireworks.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters that 45,000 members of the security forces would be deployed overnight Saturday to Sunday — the same number as the night before — but with additional forces and equipment sent to Lyon, Grenoble and Marseille which saw the worst rioting the previous night.

Numbers would be "considerably reinforced" in these cities "in order to completely restore republican order", Mr. Darmanin said.

The protests over the death of the teen, who was of Algerian origin, have again exposed the severe racial tensions in modern France and increased scrutiny on the police who have long been accused of singling out minorities.

The crisis is a hugely unwelcome development for President Emmanuel Macron, who was looking forward to pressing on with his second mandate after seeing off protests that erupted in January over raising the pensions age.