France riots less intense on 5th night

Rioting across France was less intense overnight, the interior ministry said yesterday, as tens of thousands of police were deployed following the funeral of a teenager of North African descent whose shooting by police has sparked nationwide unrest.

However, rioters ram-raided the home of a Paris suburb mayor, set the car alight, and launched fireworks at his wife and young children.

Vincent Jeanbrun, 39, the centre-right mayor of the southern suburb of L’Hay-les-Roses, was at the town hall when his house was attacked with his wife Melanie and children asleep inside.

The aggressors drove their vehicle at the suburban house but were halted by a low wall ringing the property’s outdoor terrace, the local public prosecutor said. They then torched their vehicle.

As Jeanbrun’s wife and children, aged 5 and 7, took flight through the back yard, they were targeted with fireworks. Jeanbrun told Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne his wife had had surgery to a broken leg and faced a three-month rehabilitation.

“While attempting to shield them and fleeing the attackers, my wife and one of my children were hurt,” the mayor said.

The local prosecutor told reporters that an investigation into attempted murder had been opened. No suspects have been arrested.

Elsewhere, President Emmanuel Macron postponed a state visit to Germany that was due to begin yesterday to handle the worst crisis for his leadership since the “Yellow Vest” protests paralysed much of France in late 2018.

He was due to meet his ministers last day evening to review the situation, the presidency said, after the prime minister said on Friday the government’s “crisis unit” had been activated until further notice.

Nahel’s death has fed longstanding complaints of police violence and systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies from rights groups and within the low-income, racially mixed suburbs that ring major cities in France. Authorities deny that.

An officer has acknowledged firing a lethal shot, the prosecutor says, telling investigators he wanted to prevent a police chase, fearing he or another person would be hurt. The officer involved is under investigation for voluntary homicide.

The interior ministry said 719 people were arrested last night, fewer than the 1,311 the previous night and 875 on Thursday night.

“Forty-five thousand police officers and thousands of firefighters have been mobilised to enforce order. Their action … made for a quieter night,” the ministry said on Twitter.

Paris’ police chief said it was too early to say the unrest had been quashed. “There was evidently less damage but we will remain mobilised in the coming days. We are very focused, nobody is claiming victory,” Laurent Nunez said.