PUBLIC TRANSPORT SUSPENDED IN FRANCE AS MACRON BLAMES SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS FOR UNREST

Fri 30 June 2023:

Public transport is set to be suspended across France from 9pm local time, as officials race to avert a fourth night of riots sparked by the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. French President Emmanuel Macron blames social media for spreading unrest and says some protesters are exploiting the teen’s death.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Office says it is concerned by the fatal police shooting of a teenager that triggered unrest across France, but that it could be an opportunity.

“This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement,” spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.

“We also emphasize the importance of peaceful assembly. We call on the authorities to ensure use of force by police to address violent elements in demonstrations always respects the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, precaution and accountability.”

The French government has said it rejected UN accusations of racism among its police.

“Any accusation of racism or systemic discrimination in the police force in France is totally unfounded,” the foreign ministry said.

France says police to use armoured vehicles against riots

French police will use armoured vehicles to suppress riots, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said.

“Additional mobile forces” would be deployed along with the vehicles belonging to France’s gendarmerie, Borne said, also announcing the cancellation of “large-scale events binding personnel and potentially posing risks to public order”.

Nahel M was shot because of his ‘origins, ethnicity’: Activist

Hala Bounaid Ja-Rachedi, a social justice activist, said people of colour are “facing something cyclical”.

“It happens again and again and again in France,” she told Al Jazeera from Paris.

“Police kill our children and our men – we, people of colour,” she said.

“So we have young men – Nahel was a teenager. … He’s French, but if we look at his origins or ethnicity, he’s also North African, and that’s why he’s been shot by the police,” Ja-Rachedi said.

Young people want to “feel free, to move, to go out – they just want equal rights”, she added.

“We are – as activists, as people of colour, as people living in the suburbs – we are angry and tired.”

Macron calls on parents to keep child rioters off the streets

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on parents to keep child rioters off the streets, adding that about a third of the 875 people arrested overnight for rioting were “young, or very young”.

“It’s the responsibility of parents to keep them at home,” he told reporters after chairing a crisis security meeting. “It’s not the state’s job to act in their place,” he added, urging social media companies to remove the “most sensitive” content related to the rioting.

Macron also said that additional security forces would be deployed to contain nationwide unrest in the wake of a teen’s killing by police.

French police arrested 875 in third night of rioting: Ministry

French police arrested 875 people during overnight rioting, around half of them in the Paris region, the interior ministry has said, updating a previous figure.

A total of 492 buildings were damaged, 2,000 vehicles were burned and 3,880 fires were started, according to figures given by President Emmanuel Macron at the start of a crisis meeting.

Fireworks restricted after protesters use them against police

Several French regions have announced restrictions on fireworks after they were used in nightly clashes with local police.

The regional administration of Pas-de-Calais announced that the “possession and use of fireworks is banned on public streets by non-professionals” until July 3.

The prefect of Loire banned in multiple municipalities “the sale, transport and possession on public spaces of all acids, fuels in portable containers, agricultural or artisanal explosives, explosive substances and fireworks”.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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