Following an appeal for peace from the grandmother of a teenager who was shot by a police officer, the number of persons arrested in France on Sunday sharply decreased.
After Nahel Merzouk, 17, was shot on Tuesday morning, there have been riots all throughout France.
There are curfews in effect, the underground system closes early, and there are 45,000 police officers stationed throughout Paris and other large cities.
Yesterday Nahel’s grandmother Nadia spoke to French news channel BFM and said: ‘I want it to stop everywhere.
‘The people who are destroying, I tell them stop! Let them not destroy the schools, the buses.’
Speaking of the devastating impact of the past week on her family, Nadia said she is ‘tired’, adding: ‘It’s over, my daughter no longer has a life.’
It seems Nadia’s plea had the desired effect, as there were only 78 arrests across France on Sunday in relation to rioting – a huge decrease compared to the 719 arrests on Saturday and 1,300 on Friday.
The huge number of officers were once again deployed following the attack on the home of L’Hay-les-Roses mayor Vincent Jeanbrun in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Mr Jeanbrun described the attack as an ‘assassination attempt’, adding that his wife and one of his two children were injured after a burning car was driven into his house.
Skirmishes erupted in the Mediterranean city of Marseille on Sunday, but appeared less intense than the night before, according to the interior ministry.
President Emmanuel Macron chaired a special security meeting yesterday as the protests continued for a sixth day.
An official at the meeting said Mr Macron plans to meet with the leaders of both houses of parliament today, followed by discussions with mayors in the 220 towns and cities affected by the protests.
He also wants to start a detailed, longer-term assessment of the reasons that led to the unrest – which exposed deep-seated discontent in low-income neighbourhoods.
Mr Macron delayed the start of the first state visit to Germany in 23 years due to the ongoing violence.