‘You could smell the teargas’: Nanterre estate reeling after night of unrest

One resident said she had watched from her window as the sky was lit up by fireworks thrown at police. Photograph: Poitout Florian/Abaca/Shutterstock

On the Pablo Picasso housing estate in Nanterre on Thursday morning, smoke was still rising from the smouldering, twisted carcasses of dozens of burnt-out cars.

Shards of glass were spread across pavements from smashed bus stops, which children on scooters tried to dodge, and there was an overpowering stench of burning tyres and melted tarmac. After hours of clashes between young people and police until the early hours, fresh graffiti on buildings read: “Justice for Nahel. Fuck the state, fuck the police”.