“Responsible will not get away with it”: the French authorities threatened the rioters

Protests in France appear to be easing as President Macron prepares to meet with parliamentary leaders. Police made just 49 arrests on Sunday, up from more than 2,000 in the previous two days, after calling for calm for the grandmother of a North African teenager killed by a police officer.

President Emmanuel Macron is set to meet with leaders of both houses of parliament on Monday as violent protests over the police shooting of teenager Nahel Merzouk seemed to have subsided after five nights of rioting that saw thousands arrested and left widespread destruction.

Police made 49 arrests across the country on Sunday, French media reported citing the Interior Ministry, down from 719 the day before and 1,300 on Friday.

President Macron will also meet on Tuesday with the mayors of the 220 communities affected by the protests, Macron’s office said after a crisis meeting Sunday night with government ministers.

The outbreak of violence followed a call for calm from Nahel’s grandmother, a 17-year-old who was killed Tuesday while police stopped his car in a Paris suburb.

“Stop rebelling, stop destroying,” the victim’s grandmother, Nadia, told BFMTV. “I say this to rioters: don’t break windows, don’t attack schools and buses. Stop. Mothers ride these buses.” According to her, the rioters, mostly minors, “used Nahel as a pretext.” “We want everything to calm down.” Her grandson was buried on Saturday.

On Sunday, politicians condemned a Saturday night attack in which rioters rammed a burning car into the home of Vincent Jeanbrin, the mayor of L’ail-le-Rose, 15km south of Paris, around 1:30 a.m. while his family was sleeping. Jeanbrin was at the town hall at the time, but his wife and one of his two children, aged five and seven, were wounded as they fled from the fire. Jeanbrin’s wife had a broken leg.

“Last night was a new milestone in horror and shame,” the mayor tweeted, condemning “an act of unspeakable cowardice.”

Regional prosecutor Stéphane Hardouin launched an investigation into the attempted murder on Sunday, telling French television that a preliminary investigation suggests the car was used by the perpetrators to ram the mayor’s house and set it on fire. “The first signs indicate that a car drove into the building with the intent to set it on fire,” Stéphane Hardouin said, adding that a Coca-Cola bottle filled with flammable liquid was also found at the scene.

Visiting L’Ail-le-Rose on Sunday, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne denounced the “unacceptable attack” and vowed that those responsible would not get away with it. Although the situation was much calmer overall, the attack was particularly shocking, she said.

The rioters also broke into another mayor’s garden, in La Riche, outside the city of Tours, and tried to set his car on fire, prosecutors said. Politicians of all parties have expressed outrage at the attacks, and demonstrations of support are scheduled outside city halls across France on Monday.

By Monday morning, a page on a crowdfunding site in support of the policeman accused of killing Nahel had raised over €800,000 in donations. The policeman “did his job and now paid a high price for it,” fundraiser organizers claim.

More than 3,000 people have been detained in the riots since Tuesday, following a massive deployment of 45,000 police officers across the country. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said over the weekend that the deployment would remain unchanged after protesters set fire to cars, looted shops, damaged infrastructure and clashed with police on Saturday night.

The chief of the Paris police said that it is too early to talk about the suppression of the riots. “Obviously, the damage was less, but we will remain mobilized in the coming days. We are very focused; no one claims to win,” said Laurent Nunez.

Organizers of the Tour de France, which kicked off in Bilbao on Saturday, are monitoring the situation. The event will take place in France on Monday.