Paris endured a second night of violence as protesters clashed with police over the shooting of a 17-year-old delivery driver by a cop in the French capital.
Crowds of young people went on the rampage in the city, as well as Lille and Toulouse, setting alight buildings including schools with Molotov cocktails and firework rockets.
Fires could be seen burning at intersections in the Paris suburb of Nanterre where the 17-year-old, known only as Nael M, was killed during a traffic stop by police on Tuesday morning.
Video showed a traffic officer shout “I’m going to lodge a bullet in your head,” before opening fire, with the driver dying a few minutes later.
The 38-year-old officer, who has not been named, is currently in custody and faces a murder charge in connection with the attack
More than 150 people during a second night of violence.
Gerald Darmanin, France’s Interior Minister called it ‘a night of unbearable violence against symbols of the republic’.
In a tweet he added: “Town halls, schools and police stations set on fire or attacked. 150 arrests.
“Support for the police, gendarmes and firefighters who face up with courage. Shame on those who did not call for calm.”
Tuesday’s death unleashed anger in Nanterre and other towns, including around housing projects where many residents struggle with poverty and discrimination and feel police abuse is under-punished.
Videos of the incident shared online show two police officers leaning into the driver-side window of a yellow car before the vehicle pulls away as one officer fires into the window.
The car is later seen crashed into a post nearby.
The victim, who was driving, was wounded by a gunshot and died at the scene, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
A passenger in the car was briefly detained and released, and police are searching for another passenger who fled.
Nael’s mother, who asked not to be named, said: ‘I lost a 17-year-old.
“I was alone with him, and they took my baby away from me. He was still a child, he needed his mother.”
She has since called for a silent march on Thursday in his honour on the square where he was killed.
His grandmother added: ‘I will never forgive them.
‘My grandson died, they killed my grandson. We are not happy at all, I am against the government.”
President Emmanuel Macron called for calm, saying: “We have an adolescent that was killed, it is unexplainable and inexcusable.
“Nothing justifies the death of a young man.”
Thousands of extra police officers are set to be deployed in Paris and other cities to stop the unrest, it was confirmed.
