More than 600 people were arrested in France on Thursday night as riots spread across the country. The violence erupted after a 17-year-old boy, named Nahel M., was killed by police earlier this week during a traffic blockade in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris.
Despite the deployment of some 40,000 police officers, authorities have struggled to control clashes in large cities and smaller urban areas. Public buildings and transportation systems were the main targets, but shops were also looted in some districts.
A man walks by burning tires blocking a road in Bordeaux | Philippe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images
People walk with burning tires blocking a road in Bordeaux | Philippe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images
Men throw tires into fire blocking a road in Bordeaux | Philippe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images
Burning vehicles lie on a street in the Cite Pablo Picasso area of Nanterre | Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP via Getty Images
A police officer from the RAID (search, assistance, intervention, deterrence) unit stands guard during protests in Lille | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
CRS riot police confront protesters, with the ‘Grande Arche de la Defense’ seen in the background in the Paris suburb of Nanterre | Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP via Getty Images
A police officer from the RAID unit takes up a position in a riot control vehicle in Lille | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
A firefighter watches vehicles burn following riots in the Paris suburb of Nanterre | Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP via Getty Images
An office of French bank Credit Mutuel on fire following riots in the Paris suburb of Nanterre | Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP via Getty Images
Fireworks explode as cops look on during protests in Roubaix | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
A pedestrian walks past signs reading ‘justice for Nahel and all others killed by police’ in Marseille | Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images
A RATP transport worker walks past a burnt-out tram during protests in Clamart, southwest Paris | Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images
Burnt buses at Fort d’Aubervilliers bus terminal in Aubervilliers, north of Paris | Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images
A damaged sign of the national police station in the Chatelet neighborhood in Rouen | Lou Benoist/AFP via Getty Images
The graffiti reads: “27.06.2023 war begins / a good cop is a dead cop / justice for Nahel” | Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP via Getty Images
Police officers are inside the burnt-out Hotel du ville in Garges-les-Gonesse | Stefano Rellandini/AFP via Getty Images
Fireworks explode during protests in Nanterre, west of Paris | Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP via Getty Images
A RAID unit police officer helps a man injured during protests in Lille | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
A police officer from the RAID unit helps a passerby cross the street during protests in Lille | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne talks to a resident in front of the burnt-out facade of the Hotel du ville in Garges-les-Gonesse, north of Paris, following riots two days after a 17-year-old boy was shot in the chest by a police | Stefano Rellandini/AFP via Getty Images
French riot police charge during clashes after memorial march for French teenager Nahel | Abdulmonam Eassa/Getty Images
French riot policeman pushes back unidentified man during clashes in Nanterre | Abdulmonam Eassa/Getty Images
