A video showing French President Emmanuel Macron at an Elton John concert in Paris last Wednesday, while the second night of the violent and widespread riots that erupted in the country have been ongoing since the death of a teenager by police gunfire, has gone viral on the internet.

As protesters burn French cities, Macron lights up at Elton John concert in Paris

The President of France in these shots is in a great mood, he enjoys music with his wife and dances a little. pic.twitter.com/v1CSKI7WB8

— Spriter Team (@SpriterTeam) June 30, 2023

In the video making the rounds on the internet, Macron is seen swaying while enjoying the music at the Accor Arena stadium in Paris. Almost two 24 hours earlier, 17-year-old Nael M. was shot almost point-blank by a police officer during a traffic police checkpoint, losing his life. The incident triggered a new wave of riots, which started on the outskirts of the French capital and spread to many other cities, with experts now expressing fears of generalised violence.

More than 600 people have been arrested in France, following another night of protests.

 

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Overnight from Thursday to Friday was marked by looting, fires, and damage to public property, sparked by the killing of a teenage boy by police earlier in the week.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron is due to chair a crisis meeting Friday afternoon, with protests now in their third night.

He has denounced the violence, which has swept through several cities, including Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon, Grenoble, Annecy, Toulouse, and Saint-Etienne, as “unjustifiable”.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
President Emmanuel Macron fought to contain a mounting crisis as unrest erupted for a third day over the deadly police shooting of a teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb https://t.co/1PGibvEQZ4 pic.twitter.com/yK07mmGubn

— Reuters (@Reuters) June 30, 2023

Yesterday morning, a few hours after Macron’s exit and before leaving for Brussels, he had already convened a first meeting of the inter-ministerial crisis cell with ministers and directors of administrations in the Ministry of the Interior, denouncing “unjustified” violence.

After yesterday’s third night of riots, during which 250 police officers were injured and some 670 people – mainly young people – were arrested by the authorities, the French President decided to speed up his return from Brussels, where he is attending the EU summit, in order to attend another ministerial meeting on crisis management on 14 March.00.

Yesterday’s outbreak of violence resulted in the burning of hundreds of public buildings and cars. According to initial estimates, some 500 buildings and 2,000 cars have been destroyed. The French public transport authority said that 20 lines will not be operated today due to the burning of buses.

In Paris, there have been attacks on clothing and food stores. The mayor of the town of Dennein, on France’s border with Belgium, said three-quarters of the city had been destroyed.

French Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne, who since the early hours of this Friday morning has been attending meetings to manage the crisis, said yesterday’s violence was unforgivable. Political actors, mainly from the far-right, have called for many areas to be declared a state of emergency and for repressive measures such as a curfew at night.

Third night of chaos

Two hundred and forty-nine police officers and gendarmes were injured last night during fresh riots in cities in France after a teenager near Paris was shot dead by a police officer on Tuesday, the interior ministry said. A total of 40,000 members of law enforcement forces had been deployed across French territory, including 5,000 in Paris. No police officers or gendarmes have been seriously injured, the same source clarified.

A total of 667 people were arrested overnight in France, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said, after riots broke out for a third consecutive night across the country following the death of a teenager by police gunfire earlier this week.