France in crisis as riots escalate - BBC News

The French government has said it is considering all options, including declaring a state of emergency after a third night of escalating violence and unrest in cities and towns across France. Hundreds of police officers were injured last night and more than 900 people arrested. Ministers called for public transport. France will be put on lockdown tonight and some major events have been canceled as the government tries to prevent scenes like this from happening for the fourth night in a row. The protest began in a Paris suburb on Tuesday when a police officer shot and killed a 17-year-old boy. The unrest quickly spread across France, fueled by accusations of police racism and broader discrimination against minority communities.

Around 45,000 police officers have been deployed on the streets since Paris, here is our Europe editor Katyaradler. Paris, which is supposed to be the city of love, is exploding again in a hateful confrontation between riot police and angry young people, many of them under 18 years old. There is talk that the French government could be forced to call a state of emergency in the meantime. The president today urged parents to keep young people at home while he sent more police to the streets, but those young people didn't listen last night as violence spread to hotspots across the country City Halls Public school buildings seem to represent the state of France all have been attacked were looting two in the center of Paris in the Mediterranean city of Marseille the state library was attacked the UK and the US have now issued travel advice for its citizens visiting France their right to be cautious freelance journalist Shaheen told me he grew up in the Paris suburbs documenting what he says is daily police aggression, predicts unrest will only

escalate

this weekend, anger is at a boiling point, insists the country is on a knife edge.

French politics is more poisonous with opposition leaders here on the far right, but also on the far left trying to score points, but in the suburb, when Nahal, a 17-year-old Frenchman of Algerian-Moroccan descent, received a shot this week by a French police officer, we found people who sympathized with the rioters, no one listens to people like us, like them, otherwise, I am against violence but these young people want their voices to be heard I work as the end approaches dusk the feeling in this neighborhood is getting more and more tense we were threatened a moment ago in the streets and we tried to enter this business that was attacked by rioters last night and they begged us to walk out the doors they said they didn't want to attract more problems with our presence and as the streets of Paris continue to burn, it is also the reputation of the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, that is being burned both here at home and abroad today due to violence president maccon was forced to abandoning a summit of EU leaders discussing Europe's massive emergency, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and France's ability to safely host international events like next year's summer Olympics are being questioned this Olympic swimming complex was attacked last night by rioters including the United States Nations sought today to call on France to address what it called deep racism and discrimination in security forces.

There are 45,000 of those security forces deployed across France tonight. The fear here is that the violence will only increase, especially since tomorrow there is going to be the funeral of that 17-year-old boy who was murdered earlier this week by police officers here in his suburb of Nonte, which is really extremely tense tonight, We have been told by people here that there have been messages on social media asking people to come to the suburbs and meet tomorrow in the capital Paris, the French government says its main priority is to control the situation, but both politically and here in The streets really feel very defensive.