France riots: government considering ‘all options’ to restore order, PM says, after protests across country – latest updates | France

Moreover, Emmanuel Macron is prepared to adapt measures to curb the violence “without taboo” an aide has told reporters. The president was said to be awaiting recommendations from government ministers, according to various reports.

Here’s a little more detail on those comments from Élisabeth Borne, who said the government is considering “all options”. She has told reporters who asked about the possible declaration of a state of emergency:

I won’t tell you now, but we are looking at all options, with one priority: restoring order throughout the country.

Both conservative and far-right opposition politicians have urged her to take such action, which would hand local authorities greater powers to declare localised curfews, ban demonstrations. It would also further empower the police in efforts to restrain suspected rioters and search homes, the French press agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

Norway has advised its citizens to avoid large gatherings due to the rioting. Its foreign minister sent a text message to citizens in France, according to BFM TV. The broadcaster reports that France is a popular destination for Norwegian travellers, with about 270,000 of them visiting last year.

Meanwhile, Berlin has expressed a “certain concern at what is going on in France”, le Monde reports.

An ambulance driver was filmed berating police after Nahel’s death. In the video, which has circulated widely online, he shouted at officers:

He’s 17, you see he has a baby face. For a driving licence offence. For a driving licence offence, brother. I know the lad, I watched him grow up. His mother brought him up all alone, his dad left. She’s going to bury her son. For a driving licence offence.

You’re going to see how it goes tonight. Everyone’s sleeping right now – you’re going to see how Nanterre awakens.

The ambulance, named by FranceInfo as Marouane, was later found guilty of a public order offence over the incident, but spared any punishment because of the context. He said he knew Nahel “like a little brother”, adding: “You can ask anyone in Nanterre, even if he didn’t know you, he’d do you a favour”.

The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, has denounced what he called a night of “rare violence”, with his office describing the 667 arrests overnight as a sharp increase on previous operations as part of an overall government efforts to be “extremely firm” with rioters.

The United Nations rights office said on Friday it was concerned by the fatal shooting of a teenager by police that triggered unrest across France. Its spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said:

This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement.

We also emphasise 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.

French government taking nothing off the table in bid to stop the riots

The US embassy in Paris has tweeted advising Americans to “avoid mass gatherings and areas of significant police activity” as they “can turn violent and result in clashes”.

The British Foriegn Office urged Britons to monitor the media, avoid protests and follow the advice of authorities.

Conservative and far-right politicians have urged the government to declare an emergency, something both the prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, and interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, have so far said they are not yet willing to do.

The president of the conservative Les Républicains party, Eric Ciotti, was the first to issue the demand on Thursday and on Friday Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National) followed suit.

The MP and party spokesperson Sébastien Chenu said a curfew should first be imposed on some neighbourhoods where the violence had been particularly extreme.

“We are calling for a curfew initially, then the imposition of a full state of emergency and the mobilisation of all the forces of law and order in the country,” Chenu told LCI television, adding that authorities had “not succeeded in taking back control” on Thursday night.

Éric Zemmour, the far-right, anti-immigration polemicist who made a much-publicised run for the French presidency last year, echoed the demand on Friday.

Zemmour told Europe1 radio that the government should “ferociously repress” the riots, describing them as the “beginnings of a civil war, an ethnic war”.

A state of emergency in France can be declared “in the event of imminent danger resulting from serious breaches of public order”.

It allows the government to curtail free movement, including ordering the closure of certain public places and banning demonstrations.

Elisabeth Borne, the French prime minister, has called the violence “intolerable and inexcusable” and reaffirmed in a tweet her support for police, gendarmes and firefighters who were “carrying out their duties with courage”.

The transport minister, Clément Beaune, has told RMC radio that public transport in the Paris region would be severely disrupted on Friday. He did not rule out another early closure of the network, parts of which shut down at 9pm on Thursday.

Buses and trams as well as public transport depots were among the targets of rioters in several towns and cities, with 12 buses set on fire and destroyed in a depot in Aubervilliers, just north of Paris, and a tram torched in Lyon.

The teenager whose death on Tuesday sparked the rioting was a “well-liked” only child raised by a single mother, who had been studying for an electrician’s certificate.

According to French media, Nahel M was was still living with his mother, Mounia, in the Vieux-Pont neighbourhood of Nanterre, about 9 miles (15km) from central Paris.

In 2021 he had enrolled on a course leading to an electrical qualification at the lycée Louis Blériot in nearby Suresnes, but had reportedly dropped out and was earning a living making deliveries and working in a fast-food shop.

The president of a local community rugby club described him as “a kid who really wanted to get on, to integrate professionally and socially”.

The public prosecutor, Pascal Prache, has said Nahel, who is too young to hold a full driving licence in France, was known to police for previously failing to comply with a traffic stop order, and French media said he had also been involved in several other previous run-ins with police.

According to BFM and other media, he was arrested last Saturday after failing to obey a traffic stop and notified that he would appear in youth court in September.

You can read more about Nahel in this profile:

France’s interior ministry has said 249 police and gendarmes were injured in Thursday night’s rioting, which rather than pitched battles between protesters and police was marked by looting of shops and attacks on public buildings.

Flagship branches of Nike and Zara were looted in Paris, French media have reported, while among other incidents a police station in the Pyrenean city of Pau was hit by a Molotov cocktail and an elementary school and a district office set on fire in Lille.

A total of 40,000 officers had been deployed, including 4,000 in the greater Paris region. The ministry said none suffered serious injuries.

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