NANTERRE, France — Crowds gathered in town halls across France on Monday to show their solidarity with local governments targeted in six nights of violence erupted by the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old by police in a suburb of Paris.
The unrest, which appeared to be waning Sunday night, was sparked by a predominantly youthful backlash in the suburbs and urban housing projects against a French state that many young people of immigrant roots say routinely discriminates against them. A total of 99 town halls were attacked during the violence, the interior ministry said, including an attempt over the weekend to ram a mayor’s house and apparently set it on fire.
Hundreds of people rallied in the l’Hay-les-Les Roses commune in the southern Paris suburbs on Monday to support Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun, whose wife and one of his young children were injured when a car set on fire by rioters crashed into it his car rammed home Sunday morning while they were sleeping.
It was an unusually personal attack that authorities said would be prosecuted as attempted murder, and it unleashed in many cities where city hall is often quite literally central to public life , a wave of support for local governments.
“We saw the true face of the rioters, that of the assassins,” Jeanbrun said in an emotional speech. France and “democracy itself” were attacked in days of riots. “This won’t last,” the mayor said, adding that the “silent majority” spoke up and said “stop.” That’s enough!” The crowd responded by shouting “Enough!”
According to French media reports, President Emmanuel Macron made a surprise visit to a district north of Paris to thank security officials for their work. A video showed Macron and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin entering the building in the 17th district, which houses a specialized night brigade.
Apart from a march last week, there has been little organized protest for Nahel, the 17-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent who was killed by a white police officer in the Paris suburb of Nanterre last Tuesday. Instead, the anger has manifested itself in young people targeting the police, with both sides employing increasingly aggressive tactics.
The average age of the 3,354 people arrested last week was 17, the interior minister said. But the problem of discrimination affects all age groups, according to Ahmed Djamai, a 58-year-old who was born in Nanterre and attended a solidarity event at City Hall on Monday.
Djamai said the police stopped him not long ago and asked for a residence permit, although as a French citizen he neither has nor needs one. He said the problem will not go away even if the violence subsides.
“Our second, third and fourth generation children face the same problem when they look for a job or go to prestigious universities,” he said. “You will not be accepted. So the problem is still a social one now, but it’s also an identity problem. It goes much deeper.”
President Macron met with mayors of 220 cities across the country hit by violence on Tuesday. Across France, 34 buildings – many government-related – and 297 vehicles were attacked from Sunday to Monday.
Macron last week blamed social media for the spread of unrest and urged parents to take responsibility for their teens. Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told radio station France Inter that parents who evade this responsibility “either out of disinterest or willfully” would be prosecuted.
The anger has escalated into attacks on state symbols, widespread arson and late-night looting. The interior minister, on a visit to a city in central France, said he was right to send 45,000 police officers onto the streets over the past few nights – and did so again on Monday night. However, he added that the police “cannot raise children in place of their parents.”
“We know only too well that this violence primarily punishes the children, the people and families of our neighborhoods and all the residents of our city,” said Nanterre Mayor Patrick Jarry. “We want justice to be done for Nahel and for the appeal of the family, and especially his grandmother, to end the violence and destruction to be heard and respected.”
According to the Interior Ministry, 157 arrests were made overnight out of a total of 3,354 since last Tuesday, and two police stations were also attacked.
The Home Secretary said children as young as 12 or 13 had been arrested for assaulting police officers and setting fires.
In the Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, where a fire also ravaged City Hall, residents said over the weekend anger had been smoldering for years, with many saying the government had done little to help them.
“Young people are afraid of dying at the hands of the police. You are hopeless. They’re bored and need something to distract them from hanging out on the street,” said Samba Seck, 39.
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Oleg Cetinic and Alex Turnbull contributed from L’Hay-les-Roses, France. Jade Le Deley contributed from Clichy-sous-Bois, France. Lori Hinnant contributed from Paris.