List of All Articles with Tag 'europe'

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Rioting raged in cities around France for a fourth night despite massive police deployment, with cars and buildings set ablaze and stores looted, as family and friends prepared Saturday to bury the 17-year-old whose killing by police unleashed the unrest. The government suggested the violence was beginning to lessen thanks to tougher security measures, but damages remained widespread, from Paris to Marseille and Lyon and French territories overseas, where a 54-year-old died after being hit by a stray bullet in French Guiana. The interior ministry announced 994 arrests around France by early Saturday. France’s national soccer team — including international star Kylian Mbappe, an idol to many young people in the disadvantaged neighborhoods where the anger is rooted — pleaded for an end to the violence. “Many of us are from working-class neighborhoods, we too share this feeling of pain and sadness” over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel, the players said in a statement. “Violence resolves nothing. … There are other peaceful and constructive ways to express yourself.” They said it's time for “mourning, dialogue and reconstruction” instead. The fatal shooting of Nahel, whose last name has not been made public, stirred up long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects who struggle with poverty, unemployment and racial discrimination. The subsequent rioting is the worst France has seen in years and puts new pressure on President Emmanuel Macron, who appealed to parents to keep children off the streets and blamed social media for fueling violence. Family and friends were holding a funeral gathering Saturday for Nahel in his hometown of Nanterre. Anger erupted in the Paris suburb after his death there Tuesday and quickly spread nationwide. Early Saturday, firefighters in Nanterre extinguished blazes set by protesters that left scorched remains of cars strewn across the streets. In the neighboring suburb Colombes, protesters overturned garbage bins and used them for makeshift barricades. Looters during the evening broke into a gun shop and made off with weapons in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police said. Officers in Marseille arrested nearly 90 people as groups of protesters lit cars on fire and broke store windows to take what was inside. Buildings and businesses were also vandalized in the eastern city of Lyon, where a third of the roughly 30 arrests made were for theft, police said. Authorities reported fires in the streets after an unauthorized protest drew more than 1,000 people earlier Friday evening. The Interior Ministry said 994 arrests were made during the night, with more than 2,500 fires. The night before, 917 people were arrested nationwide, 500 buildings targeted, 2,000 vehicles burned and dozens of stores ransacked. While the number of overnight arrests was the highest yet, there were fewer fires, cars burned and police stations attacked around France than the previous night, according to the Interior Ministry. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin claimed the violence was of “much less intensity.” Hundreds of police and firefighters have been injured, including 79 overnight, but authorities have not released injury tallies for protesters. Nanterre Mayor Patrick Jarry said France needs to “push for changes” in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Despite repeated government appeals for calm and stiffer policing, Friday saw brazen daylight violence, too. An Apple store was looted in the eastern city of Strasbourg, where police fired tear gas, and the windows of a fast-food outlet were smashed in a Paris-area shopping mall, where officers repelled people trying to break into a shuttered store, authorities said. In the face of the escalating crisis that hundreds of arrests and massive police deployments have failed to quell, Macron held off on declaring a state of emergency, an option that was used in similar circumstances in 2005. Instead, his government ratcheted up its law enforcement response, with 45,000 police deployed overnight. Some were called back from vacation. Darmanin ordered a nationwide nighttime shutdown Friday of all public buses and trams, which have been among rioters’ targets. He also said he warned social networks not to allow themselves to be used as channels for calls to violence. “They were very cooperative,” Darmanin said, adding that French authorities were providing the platforms with information in hopes of cooperation identifying people inciting violence. “We will pursue every person who uses these social networks to commit violent acts,” he said. Macron, too, zeroed in on social media platforms that have relayed dramatic images of vandalism and cars and buildings being torched. Singling out Snapchat and TikTok, he said they were being used to organize unrest and served as conduits for copycat violence. The violence comes just over a year before Paris and other French cities are due to host 10,500 Olympians and millions of visitors for the summer Olympic Games. Organizers said they are closely monitoring the situation as preparations for the Olympics continue. The police officer accused of killing Nahel was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide. Preliminary charges mean investigating magistrates strongly suspect wrongdoing but need to investigate more before sending a case to trial. Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude that the officer’s use of his weapon wasn’t legally justified. Nahel’s mother, identified as Mounia M., told France 5 television that she was angry at the officer but not at the police in general. “He saw a little Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life,” she said. “A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children’s lives,” she said. The family has roots in Algeria. Race was a taboo topic for decades in France, which is officially committed to a doctrine of colorblind universalism. In the wake of Nahel’s killing, French anti-racism activists renewed complaints about police behavior. Thirteen people who didn’t comply with traffic stops were fatally shot by French police last year. This year, another three people, including Nahel, died under similar circumstances. The deaths have prompted demands for more accountability in France, which also saw racial justice protests after George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota. This week’s protests echoed the three weeks of rioting in 2005 that followed the deaths of 15-year-old Bouna Traoré and 17-year-old Zyed Benna, who were electrocuted while hiding from police in a power substation in Clichy-sous-Bois. ___ Joly reported from Nanterre. Associated Press journalists Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Climate change keeps making wildfires and smoke worse. 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The mother of a teenage boy whose death has sparked furious riots in France has described their last moments together before he was fatally shot in the chest by police. The 17-year-old, named only as Nahel M and described as a French citizen with Algerian heritage, was shot at near point-blank range on Tuesday as he attempted to drive away from police who had pulled over his Mercedes in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. His death, footage of which was shared to social media, has prompted three nights of intense riots across France, resulting in nearly 900 arrests. The clashes have drawn comparison with three weeks of fury sparked by the deaths of two teenagers in 2005, electrocuted while hiding from police in a power substation in a Paris suburb. During a peaceful march on Thursday, preceding clashes with riot police, Nahel’s mother Mounia led a procession from a flatbed lorry, holding a poster saying, “Police kill”, and raising a red flare as the march reached the local courthouse, while the crowds chanted her son’s name. In footage shared separately to TikTok, she could be heard telling a French activist: “They took a baby away from me. He was still a child, he needed his mother. “This morning he gave me a big kiss and told me he loved me. I told him be careful and I loved him.” They had both left the house together on Tuesday morning, she said, with Nahel going to get a McDonalds as she left for work. “And then I am told they shot my son, what can I do,” she said. “I only had him. I didn’t have 10 like him. He was my life, my best friend. He was my son, He was my everything.” The officer accused of pulling the trigger at 9am on Tuesday has been charged preliminarily with voluntary homicide, after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigations indicated “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.” Mr Prache said officers tried to stop Nahel because he looked so young and was driving a Mercedes with Polish number plates in a bus lane, and that the officer who fired the shot said he feared he, his colleague or a bystander could be hit by the car. France’s interior minister Gerald Darmanin has ordered a complete shutdown of all public bus and tram services across the country to take effect before sunset on Friday, after what he described as a night of “rare violence” on Thursday. Police fired water cannon, tear gas and grenades at protesters as some erected barricades, lit fires at public buildings, looted shops and shot fireworks at police. Nahel’s mother told broadcaster France 5 that she was angry at the officer who killed her only child but not at the police in general. “He saw a little, Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life,” she said, adding that justice should be “very firm”. A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children’s lives,” she said. Additional reporting by AP Read More Paris shooting: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening? Macron goes to Elton John gig as Paris burns in mass protests Fear of no end to riots across France after police killing of teen: ‘It’s getting worse and worse’ Paris riots: Police officer ‘didn’t want to kill’ 17-year-old, says his lawyer

Britons have been warned against travelling to hotspots of violence in France as riots threatened to escalate out of control. Newly-updated foreign office advice warns holidaymakers to “avoid areas where riots are taking place” as the situation becomes “unpredictable.” A total shutdown of public bus and tram services was ordered nationwide on Friday night after shops were looted and several city centres were ablaze from protesters setting light to cars and buildings. President Emmanuel Macron urged parents to keep teenagers at home, saying his government was considering “all options” to restore order. More than 200 police have been injured in the unrest, which was sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager. Some areas were facing curfews. By Friday, 875 suspects had been arrested as authorities struggled to quell the clashes. Violence flared in Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse, Strasbourg and Lille, as well as in Paris, where a 17-year-old driver of Algerian and Moroccan descent, identified only as Nahel M, was shot dead in the suburb of Nanterre. A dozen buses were gutted at a blaze in a depot in Aubervilliers, northern Paris, and a tram was set alight in Lyon. In Nanterre itself, protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police. Shops, including an Apple store, were ransacked in Strasbourg, while several Casino supermarkets had been looted. The interior ministry said 79 police posts were attacked overnight into Friday, as well as 119 public buildings, including 34 town halls and 28 schools. Concerts by French singer Mylene Farmer were cancelled at the Stade de France. In the Chatelet Les Halles shopping centre in central Paris, a Nike store was broken into, and several people were arrested after store windows were smashed in the adjacent Rue de Rivoli, police said. The energy minister said several staff of a power distribution firm were injured by stones during clashes. Nanterre shopkeeper Pascal Matieus said: “It’s become completely out of control. The police have lost control.” President Emmanuel Macron, who has so far resisted calls to declare a state of emergency, urged parents to keep teenagers at home, saying his government was considering “all options” to restore order. British holidaymakers who are already in France or planning to travel there over the weekend have become increasingly worried. The Independent calculates that around 260,000 British travellers are booked on flights, ferries and trains to France on Saturday and Sunday. Newly updated official travel advice warns them of potential disruption. “Since June 27, riots have taken place across France. Many have turned violent. Shops, public buildings and parked cars have been targeted,” the government advice states. “There may be disruptions to road travel, and local transport provision may be reduced. Some local authorities may impose curfews. “Locations and timing of riots are unpredictable. You should monitor the media, avoid areas where riots are taking place, check the latest advice with operators when travelling and follow the advice of the authorities.” While most of the unrest has taken place well away from tourist areas, closing down public transport in Paris and other big cities at night will cause significant problems for many holidaymakers. Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, says it will allow passengers booked to travel on Saturday or Sunday to switch to a different flight without paying the normal £49 fee. A spokesperson said: “Any customers due to fly to France this weekend who would like to change their plans can contact our customer service team for assistance with their options which includes a transfer to an alternative flight and we will waive the change fee.” Almost all Eurostar trains from London to Paris at the weekend are full, representing around 20,000 travellers. A Eurostar spokesperson said: “Our services to France are currently running as scheduled and normal ticket conditions apply. “We will continue to monitor the situation and will provide updates on Eurostar.com and Twitter if this changes.” As the foreign office is not warning against all travel, holidaymakers will not be able to claim if they decide not to continue with their trip to France, or to come home early. Nahel M was driving a car on Tuesday morning when he was pulled over for breaking traffic rules, prosecutors said. The teenager was too young to hold a full driving licence. His death, caught on video, has ignited longstanding complaints among poor, racially mixed, urban communities of police violence and racism. Read More Travellers warned to be aware of disruptions amid France riots Mother’s tragic last words with son killed by Paris police sparking days of riots Fear of no end to riots in France after police killing of teen: ‘It’s getting worse’ Paris riots - latest: UK issues France travel warning after looting across city Is it safe to travel to Paris right now? Fear of no end to riots across France after police killing of teen: ‘It’s getting worse and worse’ Paris shooting: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening?

A potential murder investigation has been launched after a Polish woman and her seven-year-old son plunged from a ferry into the sea, prosecutors say. The pair were travelling from Sweden to Poland when the child fell into the water, Swedish authorities said. His 36-year-old mother jumped overboard in an attempt to save him, they said. The two were later winched to a helicopter and taken to a Swedish hospital but later died. A rescue operation, involving a thermal imaging camera and both Swedish and Polish rescue crews, was launched when the alarm was raised. The Swedish ferry, the Stena Spirit, had been in the Baltic Sea, midway through its journey to Gdynia in Poland from Karlskrona in Sweden when the pair fell, officials said. The country’s prosecution chiefs said on Friday they had launched a preliminary investigation in which the criminal charge was murder, but added that no suspect had been identified. “The investigation aims to try to clarify what happened,” prosecutor Stina Brindmark said. Polish police issued an appeal to passengers asking for information on how the accident happened. The mother was in the water for 59 minutes before being picked up, and her son 66 minutes, Polish website Fakt reported. It said resuscitation was started immediately but the two could not be revived. Police questioned the crew of the ferry to reconstruct events, but officers have not made contact with anyone who saw what happened, according to Fakt. Stefan Elfstrom, spokesman for Stena Line, said someone on the ferry raised the alarm. “Items have been found that belong to these people, but not the people themselves,” he said of the woman and child. “Then the alarm went off, the crew looked at the surveillance cameras and saw that two people had fallen into the water. “There is little information on whether there were relatives or people who knew the two people on the ferry. However, someone noticed that two people were missing.” Confirming the deaths, spokesman Mariusz Ciarka said: “Unfortunately, in the morning we received information from the Swedish side that we have to pass on this terrible news to the family, because both the boy and the woman are dead.” Breaking news: more follows Read More Fear of no end to riots in France after police killing of teen: ‘It’s getting worse’ Where are the French riots and why are they happening? UK issues France travel warning after looting across city - live Fear of no end to riots in France after police killing of teen: ‘It’s getting worse’ Where are the French riots and why are they happening? UK issues France travel warning after looting across city - live

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France is considering "all options" to restore order after rioters torched cars and buildings and looted shops across the country, in a third night of violent anger over the police killing of a teenager during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb. President Emmanuel Macron, who has so far been unmoved by growing calls to declare a state of emergency, arrived in Paris from Brussels after leaving a European Union summit early to attend a second cabinet crisis meeting in two days. "The priority is to ensure national unity and the way to do it is to restore order," the prime minister Elisabeth Borne said during a visit to Evry-Courcouronnes outside the capital. She said that "all options" were on the table, when asked about the possibility of a state of emergency being declared. She has called the violence "intolerable and inexcusable". There were at least 875 arrests overnight, with more than 200 police were injured as 40,000 officers were deployed across dozens of cities. Follow the latest in our live blog here Shops and vehicles in the suburb of Nanterre – where 17-year-old Nahel M was shot and killed by a policeman during a traffic stop on Tuesday – with residents worried about the escalating unrest. “It’s getting worse and worse,” said Pascal Matieus, as he picked shards of broken glass from the shattered windows of his salad shop on Friday morning. “It’s become completely out of control. The police have lost control.” It is the third clean-up operation in a row for municipal workers here, with one saying he expects to be back again on Saturday morning. In the southern city of Marseille, France's second-largest, authorities banned public demonstrations for Friday and said all public transport would stop at 7pm local time. Violence had flared there on Thursday night, along with Lyon, Pau, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and parts of Paris. Looters targeting shops in the Les Halles district of the capital. Outside the Nike store, tourists peered through caved-in windows while one local called out for them to be careful. “It’s dead, it’s dead, there’s no more order,” he said, asking not to be named. “His friend, who had come down with him from a northern suburb, countered: “It’s fine, it’s fine, just be careful at night. It’s the police we hate, not tourists.” A number of towns around Paris, including Clamart, Compiègne and Neuilly-sur-Marne, have imposed full or partial night-time curfews, while a police intelligence report that was leaked to French media predicted “widespread urban violence over the coming nights”. The unrest extended as far as Belgium's capital, Brussels, where about a dozen people were detained during scuffles related to the shooting in France and several fires were brought under control. A lawyer for the 38-year-old officer who shot Nahel – who faces preliminary charges of voluntary homicide – said he had offered an apology to the teenager’s family. “The first words he pronounced were to say sorry and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family,” Laurent-Franck Lienard told BFMTV. “He is devastated, he doesn’t get up in the morning to kill people.” The Nanterre public prosecutor, Pascal Prache, said on Thursday that Nahel died from a single shot through his left arm and chest while driving off after being stopped by police. The officer said he had opened fire because he feared that he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car, according to Mr Prache. “The public prosecutor considers that the legal conditions for using the weapon have not been met,” Mr Prache said. Nahel's mother, identified as Mounia, told France 5 television that she is angry at the officer who killed her only child, but not at the police in general. "He saw a little, Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life," she said, adding that justice should be "very firm." "A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children's lives," she said. Nahel's grandmother told Algerian television Ennahar TV that her family has roots in Algeria. Algeria's foreign affairs ministry said in a statement Thursday that grief is widely shared in the North African country. Nahel's death has brought to the surface grievances about racial profiling and police violence. Last year, 13 people were fatally shot during traffic stops in France, with Nahel’s death marking the third so far this year. Figures from Reuters show the majority of victims to be Black or of Arab origin. A state of emergency would grant “extraordinary powers” in order to restore security. The last time such measures were introduced was in 2015 following the Paris attacks, when terrorists killed 130 people in a series of coordinated shootings and suicide bombings. Th last time it was used in a situation like the current unrest was in 2005. It was used then to quell weeks of rioting around France that followed the death of two teenagers fleeing police. The boys were electrocuted after hiding from police in a power substation in Clichy-sous-Bois. Read More Macron goes to Elton John gig as Paris burns in mass protests Where are the French riots and why are they happening? Who is Nahel M? The teen shot dead by police in France Fiery protests grip France for 3rd night over deadly police shooting of a teenager French suburbs are burning. How a teen's killing is focusing anger over police tactics ‘This is war’: France burns amid angry protests after teenager shot dead by police