The French interior ministry this Saturday updated the total number of arrests made on Friday from 994 to 1,311, linked to the riots that have gripped France since Tuesday, sparked by the death of a 17-year-old boy shot dead by police. The large number represents a record number across France.
According to the French Ministry of the Interior, quoted by FranceInfo public radio and an updated balance sheet published at 12:00 local time (11:00 Lisbon), 752 arrests were made by the national police, 153 by the “gendarmerie” and 406 by the city of Paris.
On Friday, the French government sent about 45,000 police officers across the country to try to stop the violence, but it failed to prevent young demonstrators from clashing with police overnight, causing about 2,500 fires, looting shops and injuring 79 police officers.
The protests and urban unrest that erupted on Tuesday following the death of a 17-year-old youth shot dead by police after failing to complete a “stop operation” were less intense than previous days and nights, according to the agency.