Hundreds arrested in France as protests flare over police killing of teen

A total of 667 people were arrested overnight in France, said Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, after protests erupted for the third night in a row across the country over the deadly shooting of a teen by police earlier in the week.

French authorities are bracing for more violent protests in the "coming nights" over the fatal shooting, as they scrambled to contain an escalating crisis, halting public transport and enforcing curfews.

According to an internal security note, the "coming nights" are expected "to be the theatre of urban violence" with "actions targeted at the forces of order and the symbols of the state", a police source said late on Thursday.

One Paris suburb, Clamart, has already declared an overnight curfew, between 9:00 pm [1900 GMT] and 6:00 am from Thursday until next Monday.

In a show of tensions, a memorial march for 17-year-old Nahel M. ended with riot police firing tear gas as several cars were set alight in the Paris suburb where he was killed.

France has been hit by protests after Nahel was shot point-blank on Tuesday during a traffic stop captured on video that has unleashed rage and reignited debate about police tactics.

"The whole world must see that when we march for Nahel, we march for all those who were not filmed," activist Assa Traore, whose brother died after being arrested in 2016, told the rally led by the teenager's mother.

Thousands of police in streets

The policeman accused of shooting Nahel in Nanterre was charged with voluntary homicide and remanded in custody, but it remained to be seen what impact that may have on the unrest.

Some 40,000 police have been mobilised to try to keep the peace on Thursday, more than four times Wednesday's numbers on the ground when dozens were arrested.

Cars and bins were torched Wednesday night in parts of the country, while some 150 people were arrested nationwide following clashes and unrest that left a tramway's carriages on fire in a Paris suburb.

Paris bus and tram services will be halted after 9:00 pm [1900 GMT] on Thursday, the region's president said.

President Emmanuel Macron has called for calm and said the protest violence was "unjustifiable".

The riots are deeply troubling for Macron who had been looking to move past a half-year of sometimes violent protests over his controversial pension reform.

'Bullet in the head'

The teenager was killed as he pulled away from police who tried to stop him for traffic infractions.

A video, authenticated by the AFP news agency, showed two policemen standing by the side of the stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at the driver.

A voice is heard saying: "You are going to get a bullet in the head."

The police officer then appears to fire as the car abruptly drives off.

Clashes first erupted as the video emerged, contradicting police accounts that the teenager was driving at the officer.

On Wednesday night, anger spread to Toulouse, Dijon and Lyon, as well as several towns in the Paris region.

Overnight Wednesday to Thursday, masked demonstrators dressed in black launched fireworks at security forces near the scene of Nahel M.'s killing.

A thick column of smoke billowed above the area where a dozen cars and garbage cans were set ablaze and barriers blocked off roads.

Graffiti on the walls of one building called for "justice for Nahel" and said, "police kill".

In Paris, police fired flashballs to disperse protesters who responded by throwing bottles.

In the southern city of Toulouse, several cars were torched and police and firefighters pelted with projectiles.

At France's second-largest prison complex, Fresnes, protesters attacked security at the entrance with fireworks.

The town hall of Mons-en-Baroeul outside the northern city of Lille was set on fire when some 50 hooded people stormed the building, the mayor told AFP.

Authorities in Lille stepped up measures aimed at preventing fresh violence, including a ban on gatherings and deploying drones.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, speaking in a town north of Paris where the mayor's office had been set on fire, said "obviously all escalation has to be avoided".

'Ingredients for an explosion'

France is haunted by the prospect of a repeat of 2005 riots, sparked by the death of two boys of African origin in a police chase, during which 6,000 people were arrested.

"There are all the ingredients for another explosion potentially," one government adviser told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The head of the right-wing Republicans, Eric Ciotti, called for a state of emergency, which allows local authorities to create no-go areas, but a government source told AFP this option was not currently on the table.

There has been growing concern over police tactics, particularly against young men from non-white minorities.

Last year, 13 people were killed after refusing to stop for police traffic checks, with a law change in 2017 that gave officers greater powers to use their weapons now under scrutiny.

"What I see on this video is the execution by police of a 17-year-old kid, in France, in 2023, in broad daylight," said Greens party leader Marine Tondelier.