Paris riots today- latest: ‘We are at war with vermin’ France police say as violence rages after teenager shooting

France’s Interior Ministry said in an update on Saturday that 1,311 people were arrested around the country during a fourth night of riots triggered by the deadly shooting of a 17-year-old by police.

The government deployed 45,000 police around the country to try to quell violence. Overnight young protesters clashed with police, set some 2,500 fires and ransacked stores.

The funeral ceremony for Nahel, who was killed by police in the suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday, began Saturday with a visitation, to be followed by a mosque ceremony and burial in a cemetery there.

Rioters attacked an Apple store in Strasbourg, France, on Friday (June 30) after a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan descent was shot by a police officer on Tuesday in the Nanterre suburb of Paris.

Video from La Presse Libre shows people throwing stones and breaking into the shop.

It comes as unrest has flared nationwide for four consecutive nights after the death of the teenager, who has been named as Nahel Merzouk, which was caught on video.

The officer responsible – identified as Florian M., 38 – is on remand after being charged with murder.

Graffiti in Nanterre, the suburb of Paris where Nahel was shot dead by a police officer, illustrates the anger that erupted there after the 17-year-old’s killing and quickly spread nationwide.

The fatal shooting of the teenager stirred up long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects who struggle with poverty, unemployment and racial discrimination.

“Country of human rights” has been crossed out and replaced with “country of police immunity” on one wall in the area, while another piece of graffiti reads: “The life of the youth on the suburbs matters.”

Rioting raged across France for a fourth night as family and friends prepare to bury the 17-year-old whose killing by police sparked the unrest.

Despite a massive deployment of 45,000 police officers to the country’s streets, cars and buildings were set ablaze and stores were looted, while the interior ministry announced 994 arrests around the country by early Saturday.

Nahel Merzouk, 17, will be laid to rest following an Islamic ceremony close to his home in the north-western Paris suburb of Nanterre, where he was shot in the chest as he sat at the wheel of a stationary Mercedes last Tuesday.

Overnight there were clashes between protesters and police in Marseille, Lyon and Grenoble, where security forces said shops have also been looted.

In Lyon, the French authorities deployed members of RAID – an elite tactical unit of the police.

French media reported that two police officers had been assaulted In Marseille, and in total 95 people had been arrested.

Violence also rocked Paris. Videos taken in the 18th arrondissement, a central area of Paris, and shown to The Independent showed groups of young people burning tyres and firing fireworks at security forces in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Nearly 1,000 people have been arrested across France overnight as police have claimed they are “at war” while the family of a teenager shot dead by an officer prepared for his funeral on Saturday.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Saturday morning that 994 people had been arrested in the fourth consecutive night of nationwide clashes while 79 were injured.

The violence was sparked by the killing of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, who will on Saturday be laid to rest following an Islamic ceremony close to his home in the north-western Paris suburb of Nanterre.

It was there that he was shot in the chest as he sat at the wheel of a stationary Mercedes last Tuesday.

The officer responsible – identified as Florian M., 38 – remains on remand having been charged with murder.

An extra 45,000 police have been deployed across the country, including multiple armed paramilitary units.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Saturday: “It’s France that is going to win, not the rioters.”

In turn, police claimed in a leaked intelligence report that they are “at wore with savage hordes of vermin” intent on attacking them and destroying as much property as possible.

The UK Foreign Office has warned British tourists about the dangers of travelling in France.

France deployed 45,000 police officers and some armoured vehicles on the streets on Saturday as riots rocked French cities for a fourth night over a teenager’s fatal shooting by an officer during a traffic stop.

French interior minister Gerald Darmanin ordered a nationwide night-time shutdown of all public buses and trams in response to the riots and added 5,000 police to the streets, increasing the number to 45,000 overall.

President Emmanuel Macron has urged parents to keep teenagers at home. while his government is considering “all options” to restore order after rioters torched cars and buildings and looted shops across France in a third night of violence over the police killing of a teenager during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.

There were more than 800 arrests across the country into Friday, with Mr Macron saying a significant proportion of them were you people. Police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish numerous blazes through the night that damaged schools, police stations and town halls or other public buildings. There was also looting reported in a number of locations, including central Paris.

Read the full piece by Chris Stevenson here:

China’s state-sponsored Global Times reported today that a bus carrying 41 Chinese tourists was attacked in Marseille, France as unrest continued overnight.

Global Times shared a video also on Twitter which showed a bus carrying Chinese tourists moving through the streets cautiously. The window of the bus was visibly cracked.

Meanwhile, it was reported that the riots were slightly calmer on Friday night throughout France.