Unprecedented Paris Riots: 110 Vehicles Torched in Second Night Of Unrest

Following the fatal shooting of a teenage driver in Paris on Tuesday night, the capital has seen ‘unprecedented’ riots with 5,000 police in Paris now on high alert.

Wednesday, June 28, saw an escalation in violence in the French capital in response to a police officer who shot dead a 17-year-old driver, named Nahel, during a traffic stop in Nanterre, Paris, according to Le Parisien.

Second Night Of Riots In Paris

Paris has endured two nights of civil unrest which has seen the violence spread to every district in the region. Multiple cars and buildings were set on fire, and police and firefighters were injured.

Matthieu Valet of the independent police commissioners’ union, who was himself injured in an ambush last night, commented: ‘It was a night of absolute violence.’

A senior police source commented: ‘In the capital, police officers had difficulty containing a number of violent incidents of unprecedented intensity.’ said a police commissioner.

At Porte d’Orléans and in the Flandres and Archereau neighbourhoods, around fifty hostile people threw mortars and various objects at police officers. Police officers were also hit by objects thrown from the windows of buildings.

Around 30 rioters set fire to the BAPSA building, which provides accommodation for homeless people. The fire was later brought under control by the fire brigade. The mob also targeted CCTV cameras and started multiple bin fires.

110 Vehicles Set On Fire

The area where Nahel lived was particularly hard hit, with 110 vehicles set alight. Firefighters were pelted with stones while responding to vehicle fires. The school was also set on fire. It was reported that two police officers, two mobile gendarmes and four firefighters were slightly injured, and thirty-four arrests were made.

The uncontrollable violence also saw a police station damaged by fire and another was broken into where rioters wreaked havoc. A bank was also destroyed as was a tram which was consumed by fire.

Another fifty arrests were made in Seine-Saint-Denis, one officer said: ‘The officers fired their defensive weapons so hard that the ammunition could not be counted.’

In other Parisian districts, numerous town halls were targeted and damaged by fire along with a police station and a prison which was attacked by around twenty people carrying petrol cans, before being repelled by prison staff.

The French authorities have responded by mobilising a 40,000-strong force of police officers across the country in an effort to stem the violence. It is believed that a total of 150 have been detained by police.