France to Deploy 45,000 Security Forces Amid Ongoing Riots
France will deploy 45,000 security forces amid ongoing riots, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Friday, as the country is dealing with violent street protests following the shooting of a 17-year-old boy by French police.
Increase in Security Forces
This compares with 40,000 mobilized the previous day, as anger over the police killing of a teenager during a police stop Tuesday showed no sign of abating.
A young man died Friday after falling from the roof of a store in northwestern France during overnight protests triggered by the police shooting of a teenager, police said.
The man, around 20, crashed through the roof of a supermarket that prosecutors said had not been the target of any plundering during riots overnight Thursday to Friday, they said.
Rioters loot Apple Store in Strasbourg
Young rioters went on a daylight looting spree Friday in the French city of Strasbourg, targeting an Apple Store and other shops following the fatal shooting of a teen by a policeman near Paris.
Fearing an outbreak of vandalism, police had earlier locked down access to a shopping mall in the center of the eastern French city, where one of the Apple Store’s entrances is located.
But groups of youths gathered at another entrance to the store, outside the mall, and began to vandalize it, witnesses said.
“They broke two of the store’s windows, and we saw gangs of young people going in and coming out, in and out, trying to steal display items,” Corentin Flinck, who works in a neighboring shop, told AFP.
Police used teargas against the looters, he said, as regular shoppers sought refuge inside stores.
Several police arrived to block access to the Apple Stores, and explosions were heard.
Staff at nearby department store Galeries Lafayette lowered metal shutters for protection, as did other stores in the neighborhood.
Several luxury goods shops had already emptied their window displays, but other shops, selling clothes or shoes, were plundered, an AFP reporter said.
Rioters also damaged a police vehicle.
Eleven people were arrested, according to the interior ministry.
The entrance to the Strasbourg opera house was also damaged, and Friday evening’s performance canceled.
The unrest was sparked by the killing of 17-year-old Nahel on Tuesday in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre.
