France riots: Crowdfunder for policeman who shot teenager raises over £1m
ITV News' John Ray reports from Paris amid ongoing unrest across France
A crowdfunding appeal set up for the policeman who shot a 17-year-old in Paris has raised over £1 million, amid ongoing unrest across France.
Nahel M, a delivery driver, was killed during a routine traffic stop in the suburb of Nanterre shortly after 9am on Tuesday, sparking almost a week of rioting.
On Sunday, the grandmother of the teenager, identified only as Nadia, called for peace on the streets, adding that she was angry at the officer who killed her grandson but not at the police in general.
A crowdfunder for the officer, who is being investigated, reached 1.3 million euros (£1.1m) by Monday afternoon. The widely criticised appeal was set up by Jean Messiha, a former member of far-right political party National Rally.
The sum far outweighs that of donations raised for the teenage victim of the shooting.
It comes as a 24-year-old firefighter died after "several vehicles" were set on fire on the sixth night of rioting in France.
Officials have said young firefighter Dorian Damelincourt lost his life after battling a vehicle fire in an underground car park in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.
France's army chief, General Thierry Burkhard, said on Twitter on Monday morning: "The armies pay tribute to the total commitment of Master Corporal Dorian Damelincourt, who died in the fire last night. I join in the pain of his brothers in arms. I bow to the pain of his family".
Interior minister Gérald Darmanin also paid tribute, adding that the "Corporal-Chief of the Paris Fire Brigade died despite the very rapid care by his teammates".
France's deputy minister for transport, Clément Beaune, wrote: "I extend my condolences to the relatives and colleagues of the Corporal-Chief of the Paris Fire Brigade who died while fighting a fire in Seine-Saint-Denis.
"My thoughts go out to the public officials mobilised day and night for a return to calm."
The police said for "some unknown reason" a fire broke out in the car park, located under a four-storey building.
100 residents were evacuated on Monday morning after the fire began to spread to the upper floors. Mr Damelincourt suffered a fatal cardiac arrest while tackling the fire, the force's statement said.
A spokesperson for the Paris fire brigade told the BBC that at this stage there is "no formal link" with the riots, while the police said the cause of the fire was under investigation.
Meanwhile, the Paris Fire Brigade simply posted a black rectangle on its Facebook page.
It's "like a mini civil war"
It comes as one British man living in France described the nights of violence in Marseille as "like a mini civil war". Benjamin Klene, 33, from Oxford, said: “I was driving home on Thursday night and saw unmarked vans full of tactical, special unit police in assault gear. It was like a mini civil war had suddenly broken out.
“All of the public transport has been stopped at night for four nights in a row and we’ve been told not to put rubbish out as bins are being used to start fires to block off roads.
“All of the restaurants and bars around my place have now been shut for the past three evenings because of the riots.
“On Friday morning, we were told by police to leave the city centre and stay with friends or relatives if possible for the weekend.
“There were police in riot gear all over the city and the atmosphere was very tense.”
Around 45,000 officers deployed across France
A total of 297 vehicles were torched across France overnight, along with 34 buildings.
According to the Interior Ministry, there were 157 arrests overnight, down from a peak of 3,880 arrests during the fiery night of June 30, and two law enforcement stations were attacked, among other damage.
Around 45,000 officers were deployed nationwide to counter violence fuelled by anger over discrimination against people who trace their roots to former French colonies and live in low-income neighborhoods.
Nahel, the teenager killed last Tuesday, was of Algerian descent and was shot in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.
Authorities say the average age of those arrested is 17 - the same as the boy killed by police.
On Monday, crowds gathered at town halls across France to show solidarity with local governments along with other public buildings, according to the Interior Ministry.
Footage of the police shooting circulated on social media
Mayor's house attacked
A burning car struck the home of the mayor of the Paris suburb L’Hay-les-Roses over the weekend, an unusually personal attack amid the backdrop of fires and vandalism targeting police stations and town halls.
French President Emmanuel Macron has blamed social media for the spread of the unrest and called on parents to take responsibility for their teenagers.
Eric Dupond-Moretti, the justice minister, told France Inter radio that parents who abdicated that responsibility “either through disinterest or deliberately” would be prosecuted.
Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun said his wife and one of his children were injured and criticised the government for doing too little, too late - and said blaming social media or parents was papering over a bigger problem.
“The base ingredients are still there. For several years now, all summer long, explosives go off that keep people from sleeping, that make them crazy,” he told BFM television on Monday. “We are powerless summer after summer.”
Protests spread beyond France
In neighbouring Switzerland, police said seven people were detained after smashing shop windows in an “echo” of France's riots.
More than 100 people gathered in downtown Lausanne in French-speaking western Switzerland on Saturday evening, a police statement said, adding that the protesters were responding to several appeals on social media linked Nahel's death.
On Thursday, about a dozen people were detained in the Belgian capital, Brussels, and several fires were brought under control.
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