French President Emmanuel Macron has decided postpone his visit to Germany -which would span from this Sunday until next Tuesday– as a result of the riots that have been going through the country for the last four nights. In a statement, the Élysée announced that the decision was adopted after Macron held a conversation with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier this Saturday. “Given the internal situation, the President of the Republic (Macron) has indicated that he wanted to be able to stay in France for the next few days. The two presidents have therefore agreed to postpone the visit to Germany to a later date,” said the sources in a brief statement.
last night at least 1,311 people were arrested throughout the country and 79 police officers were injuredaccording to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, which also detailed that there were 1,350 vehicles on fire and damage to some 234 buildings.
Despite the large number of arrests, higher than that of the previous days, the French authorities assess that the incidents were less intense than the previous night.
“Thanks to the mobilization of internal security forces throughout the country, the level of violence committed last night was less intense the night before“, said the portfolio on the social network Twitter when communicating the first night balance this morning, at eight in the morning.
[Cuarta noche consecutiva de disturbios en Francia: al menos 1.311 detenidos y 79 policías heridos]
The trigger for this wave of riots was the death of a 17-year-old young man of Arab descent named Nahel, who was fatally shot by a police officer as he tried to flee from a police checkpoint in Nanterre. The young man’s funerals were held this morning, in “discretion” and “recollection”, for which they asked that journalists not attend.
The images of the accident, recorded by witnesses, sparked strong indignation in the country, which degenerated into riots, especially in the popular neighborhoods of large cities and in the metropolitan area of Paris.
