While French authorities struggle to contain the nationwide civil unrest following the police-involved shooting death of an Algerian 17-year-old boy, an older woman was seen pleading with police officers not to arrest the rioters torching the European country because it would reportedly be an act of racial discrimination.
“Please, I beg you not to fight them,” the woman cried out to police as she kneeled in the streets of Lyon, France.
The woman’s request came as police officers were being attacked by race rioters with mortar-style fireworks while responding to fires set to buildings and vehicles in Lyon, according to the video.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin deployed 45,000 police across the country on Saturday in an attempt to quell the ongoing civil unrest that sparked on Tuesday when Nahel, a 17-year-old Algerian teenager, was shot dead by a police officer during a traffic stop in Paris.
On Saturday night, 719 rioters were arrested by police, compared to 1,311 on Friday and 875 on Thursday night. More than 3,000 rioters have been arrested since the civil unrest began on Tuesday, according to the interior minister.
Paris’ police chief Laurent Nunez explained that the heightened police response is working to contain the riots, but they have not yet been fully quelled.
“There was evidently less damage but we will remain mobilised in the coming days. We are very focused, nobody is claiming victory,” Lauren Nunez said.
Shocking footage of the riots has been surfacing across social media with one video showing rioters chanting “Allahu Akbar” as they torched vehicles and launched mortars at buildings.
On Saturday morning, rioters drove a car into the home of L’Haÿ-les-Roses Mayor Vincent Jeanrun and set the house on fire in what is being investigated as attempted murder. His wife broke her leg and one of his two children was injured in the attack.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne visited the Paris suburb on Sunday and blamed the violence on a fringe minority, saying, “The Republic will not yield, and we will fight back,” Reuters reports.
As residents gave their respects to Mayor Jeanrun, a woman who said her name is Marie-Christine told the press: “They’re smashing things up just to smash things up, they want to spread terror, attack elected officials and try to put the Republic in danger.”
France Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire provided details on Saturday about the damage to the country sustained so far during the riots and explained that ten malls had been looted and more than 200 supermarkets had been ransacked. Rioters have also looted banks, fashion stores, and fast-food outlets, in addition to setting businesses, vehicles, and residential buildings on fire across the country.
The interior minister said that 45,000 police will be deployed again on Sunday night in preparation for the sixth consecutive night of nationwide civil unrest.
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