The French teen’s grandmother asked the rioters to stop

The police killed in the street after a shooting by a 17-year-old gunman in Nancere: A prayer of mourning in Paris

Djigui, one of the thousands of protesters who took to the streets in Paris on Thursday afternoon, told me that his mom is still nervous when he leaves the house. She can hear her crack in her voice as she checks to make sure I have my ID card.

Life went on as normal in some areas of France. In the capital, tourists thronged to the Eiffel Tower, where workers set up a nearby clock counting down to next year’s Paris Olympics. A shopping mall is a short walk from the city of Nanterre. Someone painted “the police kill” on a bench outside in the square where Nahel was shot.

Hundreds of people came to the western suburb of Nancere to pay their respects to Nahel M., a 17-year-old who was fatally shot by a police officer after being stopped for a traffic violation.

Dozens of mediators, who act as liaisons between the community and local officials, were hired to keep order and stop anyone from filming or taking photos. Some 300 people showed up to attend the public prayer of mourning that was held on the street after the mosque became so full.

After Nahel’s death, the French president has stepped up to protect his daughter’s image in the wake of the tragedy that killed him

“Try and put yourself in the place of this boy’s mother,” pleaded Catherine, a Nanterre resident who didn’t want to give her last name out of concern for her safety. “I just can’t imagine … he could have been any of our children.”

Some said they were disappointed by several politicians on the right and far-right, who they felt had seized on the moment to try to tarnish the boy’s image.

“It’s like Nahel was killed twice,” said Nordine Iznasni, a community activist who has been a staple of Nanterre for decades. “First, with a bullet, then a second time with a smear to his reputation.”

The destruction was still on display despite the morning clean up. Multiple shops and cafés showed missing windows, layers of melted plastic (what were once garbage cans), and the leftovers of cars that were burnt to a crisp.

France’s government has deployed 45,000 police to keep order and the president canceled his visit to Germany as the country braces for more unrest.

The government also put out a specific order urging young people to stay at home. The average age of those arrested was 17 years old, said Gérald Darmanin, France’s interior minister.

President Emmanuel Macron had swiftly condemned the death of the teenage driver of Algerian descent, known only by his first name, as “inexplicable,” but the French leader has also urged parents to take responsibility for teenagers who have been participating in conflagrations up and down the country, often without the knowledge of their family members.

Violence in the memory of the Holocaust: The case of L’Hay-les-Roses, Paris, a suburb of Marseille

In cities like Marseille, commanders would use vans to block the streets and discourage angry demonstrators, while helicopters hovered overhead to watch the crowd.

In one Parisian suburb, L’Hay-les-Roses, prosecutors launched an investigation into attempted murder after the local mayor’s home was rammed by a car that was subsequently set on fire, injuring the wife and one child of mayor Vincent Jeanbrun.

He said the personally-targeted attack presented a new level of “horror and ignominy” in the current outbreak of civil unrest, while town halls, schools, police buildings and hundreds of stores have also been damaged by fire or acts of vandalism over the past few days.

Large groups engaged in running battles with heavily armed riot police, wearing protective clothing, and provocation that continued into the early hours of Sunday in most of France’s most historic locations, like the old port of Marseille.

More than 700 people have been arrested in France in the last five nights as a result of the protests, which include the capital Paris and the port city of Marseille.

At the foot of a bridge near the Eiffel Tower where generations of couples have attached padlocks to symbolize lasting love, a Senegalese man selling cheap locks and keys shook his head when asked if Nahel’s killing and the ensuing violence would change anything.

The monument to the Holocaust victims and members of the French resistance was vandalised on the sidelines of a silent march in honor of Nahel. The slogans included “Don’t forgive or forget” and “Police, rapists, assassins.” The European Jewish Congress condemned the act of disrespect for the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

French police shot and killed 13 people who didn’t comply with traffic stops over the course of a year, prompting demands for more accountability.

Video of the killing showed two officers at the window of the car, one with his gun pointed at the driver. As the teenager pulled forward, the officer fired once through the windshield. A preliminary charge of voluntary Homicide has been filed against the officer who is accused of killing Nahel.

While authorities expressed indignation at an attack on the mayor’s house that injured family members, the grandma of the French teenager shot dead by police begged for the rioters to stop.

In a phone interview, the grandmother said that Nahel shouldn’t break windows or buses because he’s a teenager. We want to keep things calm.

She said she was angry at the officer who killed her grandson but not at the police or the justice system, as France faces its worst social upheaval in years. Her grandson was buried on Saturday.

Emmanuel Macron meets the mayors of the towns and cities affected by the Paris unrest and plans to meet with their heads of parliament in the next few days

President Emmanuel Macron held a special security meeting Sunday night and plans to meet Monday with the heads of both houses of parliament and Tuesday with the mayors of 220 towns and cities affected by the protests, said a participant in the meeting, who spoke anonymously in line with French government practices. Macron also wants to start a detailed, longer-term assessment of the reasons that led to the unrest, the official said.

Highlighting the seriousness of the rioting, Macron has delayed what would have been the first state visit to Germany by a French president in 23 years, which had been scheduled to start Sunday evening.

Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun said his wife and one of his children were injured in the 1:30 a.m. attack while they slept and he was in the town hall monitoring the violence. Jeanbrun, of the conservative opposition Republicans party, said the attack represented a new stage of “horror and ignominy” in the unrest.

Macron has blamed social media for fueling violence. France’s justice minister has warned that people who call for violence on apps could face prosecution.

The mass police deployment has been welcomed by some frightened residents of targeted neighborhoods, but it has further frustrated those who see police behavior as the core of the crisis.

On a public square in Nanterre, a young man of Senegalese descent said France would learn little from the latest unrest. Faiez Njai pointed at his temple and fired because the police are playing on his fears.