Nearly 700 people arrested, President Macron convenes emergency meeting, UN speaks out

Riots have erupted across France over the past three nights, in protest at the police shooting of 17-year-old Nahel earlier this week.

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Cars burned during riots in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, France on June 29. (Source: AFP)

On June 30, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced that a total of 667 people had been arrested for participating in riots in the country.

To quell the widespread unrest, 40,000 French police were mobilized on the night of June 29.

According to videos on social media, several fires broke out across France, including a bus station in a northern suburb of Paris and a tram in Lyon.

On the same day, at a press conference in the suburbs of Paris, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that President Emmanuel Macron had called an emergency cabinet meeting on June 30. The meeting is expected to evaluate and consider “all options” to restore order.

According to her, the top priority is to ensure national unity and the way to do that is to “restore order”.

Sharing on Twitter on June 30, Prime Minister Borne said that after receiving an update on the violence and riots last night, France will hold an emergency meeting in the afternoon and "President Emmanuel Macron had to rush back from the European Union (EU) Summit in Brussels, Belgium to attend."

Meanwhile, Ms. Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, expressed concern over the police shooting of a teenager, causing unrest across France.

According to Ms. Shamdasani, this is the time for France to “seriously address the deep-rooted problems of racism in law enforcement.”

“We also call on the authorities to ensure that, when using force to address violent elements in protests, police officers always respect the principles of lawfulness, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, discretion and responsibility,” she stressed.

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