France Riots Live News Updates: Macron postpones state visit to Germany amid unrest

France Riots News Updates: French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a state visit to Germany that was to begin on Sunday due to unrest in France . Macron spoke on the phone on Saturday with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and briefed him on the situation, a spokesperson for the German president said.

More than 1,300 people were arrested in France   by the fourth night of rioting. Meanwhile, the government deployed 45,000 police to city streets across the nation to head off what was expected to be a fifth night of violence. Overnight, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted that the night had been calmer than previous ones, thanks to “the resolute action of security forces.”

Meanwhile, family and friends of Nahel Merzouk, whose fatal shooting by police sparked the protests, gathered on Saturday for the teenager’s funeral in the Paris suburb where he died. A crowd gathered outside the mosque where the ceremony was held.

Home of French mayor ram-raided and torched by rioters

The home of a Paris suburb mayor was ram-raided and set alight while his wife and children were asleep inside during the unrest that has gripped the country following Tuesday’s shooting of a teenager by a police officer, the official said on Sunday.

Vincent Jeanbrun, mayor of the southern suburb of L’Hay-les-Roses, said his wife and one of their two children, aged five and seven, were injured as they fled the building in the early hours.

Jeanbrun, from the conservative Les Republicains party, was not at home but at the town hall during the incident. The town hall has been the target of attack for several nights since the shooting and has been protected with barbed wire and barricades. (Reuters)

France faces 5th night of rioting over teen’s killing by police, signs of subsiding violence

Young rioters clashed with police late Saturday and early Sunday and targeted a mayor’s home with a burning car as France faced a fifth night of unrest sparked by the police killing of a teenager, but overall violence appeared to lessen compared to previous nights.Police made 719 arrests nationwide by early Sunday after a mass security deployment aimed at quelling France’s worst social upheaval in years. (AP)

Explained | Why has France been engulfed by protests – again?

A few months after it witnessed massive protests over pension reforms, France is on the boil again. Over the last four days, protests have swept across France following the death of a young man as a result of excessive use of force by the police on Tuesday (June 27).

Cars and public buildings have been set on fire, and clashes have been reported between police and enraged protestors who have taken to the streets to rally against French authorities’ excesses.

As per figures from the French interior ministry, 994 ‘rioters’ were arrested on Friday night, with 79 police and gendarmes were injured and 2,560 fires on public roads recorded. Since the protests first erupted, over 1300 people have been arrested, with France deploying around 45,000 police personnel on the streets.