French police made a record 994 arrests across the country in a fourth consecutive night of “less intense” incidents after a 17-year-old boy was shot dead by a police officer during a traffic stop.

The funeral of 17-year-old Nael M., originally from Algeria, will take place today, while his death continues to set fire to many popular districts of the country.

Heavy forces, at least 45,000 police, allowed the incidents to be contained in this fourth night of rioting. But “79 police officers and gendarmes were injured,” about 1,350 vehicles were set on fire, 234 buildings were set on fire or damaged, and about 2,560 fires occurred in public places, according to the French interior ministry.

In Marseille, in southern France, the situation was particularly tense, with French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin sending reinforcements there. The police had announced at 02:00 (local time, 03:00 Greek time) already 88 arrests.

Hooded men broke into a gun store and stole shotguns but no ammunition, authorities said. A man was arrested with a rifle he may have grabbed from a certain store, police said.

Darmanen, who visited northwest Paris, said overnight that the incidents were of “lesser” intensity.

Young hooded men

In Lyon and Grenoble clashes broke out with groups of youths, many wearing hoods, throwing objects at police who responded with tear gas.

Several cities have imposed night curfews.

In Nanterre, the area of ​​Paris where Nael came from, residents are preparing today for the young man’s funeral.

“Saturday July 1 will be a day of reflection for Nael’s family,” the family’s lawyers wrote, asking the media not to attend the funeral.

The interior ministry has already announced the deployment of “additional special units” of the police and gendarmerie. Light armored vehicles of the gendarmerie were also used during last night.

“Sense of responsibility”

For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron asked the families to show responsibility, underlining that a third of those arrested on the night of Thursday to Friday “were young, sometimes very young”.

Macron also accused social media of inciting violence and said he expected them to show a “sense of responsibility”, referring in particular to Snapchat and TikTok through which “violent gatherings” are organized and which cause “a kind of mimicry of violence”.

The question of imposing a state of emergency is being raised by some of France’s political world, with Darmanen stating on yesterday’s TF1 news bulletin: “We are not ruling anything out, we will see what the president of the Republic chooses.”

A state of emergency, which allows authorities to impose special measures such as curfews, was imposed in November 2005 after ten days of rioting after two teenagers were electrocuted while trying to hide from police.

This is the third time this year that a police officer in France has killed a citizen during a traffic stop, down from a record 13 similar incidents last year, a French police spokesman said.

There were three such incidents in 2021 and two more in 2020, according to a Reuters tally, which shows the majority of victims since 2017 are either black or of Arab origin.