On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron plans to meet with the leaders of both houses of parliament in response to five nights of unrest that witnessed thousands of arrests, extensive destruction, and violent protests over the police shooting of teenager Nahel M.
Police made 49 nationwide arrests on Sunday, down significantly from 719 the day before and 1,300 on Friday, according to the interior ministry and French media.
President Macron will also meet on Tuesday with the mayors of 220 towns and cities affected by the protests, Macron’s office said, after a crisis meeting on Sunday night with government ministers.
The ebbing violence follows an appeal for calm from the grandmother of Nahel, the 17-year-old killed on Tuesday during a police traffic stop in a Paris suburb.
“Stop rioting, stop destroying,” the grandmother, named as Nadia, told BFMTV. “I say this to those who are rioting: do not smash windows, attack schools and buses. Stop. It’s mothers who take those buses.” The rioters, mostly minors, were “using Nahel as an excuse”, she said. “We want things to calm down.” Her grandson, identified by only his first name, was buried on Saturday.
Attack on Saturday night
On Sunday, politicians condemned an attack on Saturday night in which rioters rammed a burning car into the home of Vincent Jeanbrun, the mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, nine miles (15km) south of Paris, at about 1.30am while his family were asleep. Jeanbrun was at the town hall at the time, but his wife and one of his two children, aged five and seven, were injured as they fled. Jeanbrun’s wife suffered a broken leg.
“Last night was a new milestone in horror and disgrace,” the mayor, from the conservative Les Républicains party, tweeted, condemning “an act of unspeakable cowardice”.
On Sunday, regional prosecutor Stephane Hardouin initiated an investigation for attempted murder and stated in an interview with French television that a preliminary investigation indicated the intention of the car to ram the house and set it on fire. Hardouin mentioned that initial indications suggested that someone had driven the car into the building with the purpose of causing a fire. Additionally, authorities discovered a Coca-Cola bottle filled with flammable liquid at the scene.
Visiting L’Haÿ-les-Roses on Sunday, Elisabeth Borne, the prime minister, denounced “an intolerable attack” and pledged those responsible would not get away with it. While the situation was much calmer overall, the attack was particularly shocking, she said.
