More than 400 arrested as third night of violent protest sweeps France

More than 400 people were arrested across France on June 29 as a wave of protests swept the country for a third night following the fatal police shooting of a teenage boy that was captured on video.

France’s elite police force, the RAID, were deployed to the cities of Bordeaux, Lyon, Roubaix, Marseille and Lille, to help contain the protests, CNN reports.

Confrontations flared up between protesters and police in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre – where the 17-year-old named Nahel was killed days before – and in the southern port city of Marseille.

Amid burning debris, “vengeance pour Nael” appeared to be spray painted on a wall in Nanterre, which translates to “revenge for Nael” in reference to the slain teenager and using an alternative spelling of his name, according to footage from the suburb.

A bank was set on fire in Nanterre, according to photographs from the scene, and 15 people have been taken in for questioning by police after a march held in memory of the teenager turned violent.

Protesters threw fireworks at police officers in Marseille, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV, while footage from the northern city of Lille showed fires burning on streets and running riot police officers. Six people were taken in for questioning after participating in a protest banned by authorities in Lille, the regional authority said in a Facebook post.

At least 421 people were arrested in the protests across France from Thursday night into Friday morning, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told BFMTV.

More than half of those arrests took place in the Paris region, in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, BFMTV reported, citing Paris police.