Mayor says home ‘rammed’ and set on fire as France endures sixth night of protests

Funeral held for French teenager as arrests mount on fifth night of protests Jeanbrun said that he had “no words strong enough to describe his emotion towards the horror of this night” and thanked police and rescue services for their help. France has been rocked by a wave of protests following the death of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old of Algerian descent who was shot by a police officer in Nanterre earlier in the week and whose funeral took place on Saturday at a mosque in Nanterre amid a heavy security presence. The youth’s death has reignited a debate on policing in France’s marginalized communities and raised questions over whether race was a factor in his death. His mother, Mounia, told television station France 5 on Friday that she blamed only the officer who shot her son for his death. Nonetheless, the killing has sparked widespread destructive unrest.

Hundreds detained

While the French government has deployed security forces and riot police across the country, the unrest continued into a sixth night of protests. Overnight Saturday into Sunday 427 people were detained, according to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who tweeted early on Sunday that it had been a “quieter night thanks to the resolute action of the police.” The previous night, more than 1,300 people were detained and 2,560 fires reported on public roads. France’s Interior Ministry on Saturday said 1,311 people and reported fires on public roads, with more than a thousand cars burned. Many of those detained since the unrest began on Tuesday are minors, with an average age of 17, according to Darmanin.