French authorities estimate 157 detainees in protests overnight

2023-07-03 07:46:00

French soldiers guard the area near the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris, France. OLIVIER MATTHYS | EFE

The Police have had to disperse with tear gas a few hundred people from an extreme right group that was protesting on the stairs of a hotel in Lyon

03 jul 2023 . Updated at 08:27 h.

At least 157 people have been arrested tonight in the framework of the protests in France, a much lower number than the previous nights, after four days marked by riots in the French streets after the death at the hands of the Police of a 17-year-old boy in Nanterre.

This balance, which includes some twenty arrests in Paris, is far from the more than 700 arrested on Saturday and the more than 1,000 on Friday, after various political and social sectors have made numerous calls for calm.

On the other hand, the Police had to disperse a few hundred people from an extreme right-wing group that was protesting on the stairs of a hotel in Lyon with tear gas, according to the newspaper To install Le Figar.

The grandmother of the minor who died in France: I want the policeman who killed him. To the people who are wrecking, I say: ‘Stop’

The voice

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, will receive this Monday the presidents of the Senate and the National Assembly, while the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, will invite the spokespersons of the parliamentary groups in the afternoon in a logic of exchanges. The president will receive the councilors of more than 220 municipalities affected by the protests at the Elseo Palace on Tuesday.

Macron has also asked his ministers to restore order and guarantee a return to calm, while he has indicated that the Government must continue to be on the side of the security forces that have been mobilized day and night, reports the BFMTV chain.

The agent fired at the young man last Tuesday when he started the march in a car whose window the policeman was leaning out of. His death has sparked six consecutive days of anti-racist protests and riots and the policeman, described as exemplary and very calm, has been suspended and charged with murder.