Tuesday briefing: How the killing of a teenager sparked fierce unrest on the streets of France

In today’s newsletter: The death of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk triggered five nights of riots in Paris and beyond – but they had been brewing for years

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Good morning. Apologies if this is the second time you are receiving this email – due to some technical gremlins some people received yesterday’s newsletter on Labour for a second time. Below is today’s First Edition on France.

After a tumultuous week in which the country was shaken by five nights of serious disorder, destruction and – at times – violence, the rioting has subsided and the streets are largely calm.

Palestinian territories | Israel has launched a major aerial and ground offensive into the West Bank city of Jenin, its biggest military operation in the Palestinian territory in years, in what it described as an “extensive counter-terrorism effort”. At least eight Palestinians were killed and 50 injured, 10 seriously, in the attack that began at about 1am on Monday.

Hong Kong | China has accused the UK of protecting fugitives after the British foreign secretary criticised Hong Kong’s decision to offer HK$1m bounties for the arrest of eight democracy activists based overseas. The Chinese embassy in London called on British politicians to stop using “anti-China Hong Kong disruptors to jeopardise China’s sovereignty and security”.

Fuel | The UK energy secretary has accused fuel retailers of using motorists as “cash cows”, after a consumer watchdog found that drivers were paying more for petrol and diesel than before the Covid pandemic because of “weakened” competition.

UK politics | Sue Gray was found to have apparently breached the civil service code by discussing a role with Keir Starmer without telling her Whitehall bosses, a Cabinet Office investigation has found.

D-day | Leon Gautier, the last surviving member of the French commando unit that waded ashore on D-day alongside allied troops to begin the liberation of France, died on Monday. He was 100 years old.

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Fundraiser for police officer who killed French teenager raises €1m

Politicians on the left have criticised the collection, set up by a far-right activist, but GoFundMe has refused to take it down

A row has broken out over a collection for the family of the French police officer under investigation for shooting dead a 17-year-old that has topped more than €1m (£860,000) in donations.

A similar collection to help the family of the victim, Nahel M, killed a week ago in Nanterre outside Paris after being stopped by two motorcycle patrol officers, has collected less than €200,000.

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MPs and peers urge UK government to do more to free jailed activist in Egypt

More than 100 signatories express concern in letter to foreign secretary over lack of progress in case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah

More than 100 MPs and peers have written to the foreign secretary to express concern over the lack of progress to free a jailed British-Egyptian activist.

It comes seven months after the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, shook hands with Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, while Alaa Abd el-Fattah was close to death due to a hunger strike.

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Crowds gather at French town halls to show solidarity as protests ease

People turn out across the country to support local government after arrests on Sunday fell to 49 from 719 on Saturday

Violent protests in France over the police shooting of teenager Nahel M appeared to ease after five nights of unrest as crowds gathered at town halls across the country to show solidarity with local governments targeted in the violence.

Police made 49 arrests nationwide on Sunday, French media reported, citing the interior ministry, down significantly from 719 arrests the day before, and 1,300 on Friday.

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France riots: calmer night reported despite 700 arrests

Grandmother of Nahel M calls for calm as 45,000 police and gendarmes deployed in fifth night of rioting

The grandmother of a teenage boy, whose fatal shooting by police sparked five nights of rioting in France, has called for calm as authorities said the scale and intensity of the violence appeared to be waning, despite an arson attempt on a mayor’s home.

Gérald Darmanin, the interior minister, said the police deployment would be unchanged, with 45,000 officers on duty around the country, after protesters again torched cars, looted shops, damaged infrastructure and clashed with police on Saturday night.

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In the suburbs, too many feel France’s founding ideals don’t apply to them

Emmanuel Macron has to find a way to deal with the anger and resentment simmering in communities on the margins

At about 3am last Friday I was woken up by what sounded like gunfire. I wasn’t far wrong. From the back windows of my apartment in southern Paris I could make out fireworks being hurled at the police and hear the immediate response with “flash-balls”, the “less than lethal” weapons used by French police for riot control.

I had spent the evening following the news coverage of the violent riots that were breaking out spontaneously all over France. There were familiar images of cars and buildings on fire and heavily armed police lines – familiar at least to anyone who has lived through the past few years of angry protest in France. But what was most disturbing about these riots was the sheer scale of it all: the violence was not just contained to the banlieues of the big cities but was everywhere, including picturesque towns such as Montargis in the Loiret.

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‘We are seen as less human’: inside Marseille’s districts abandoned by the police

In 2021 Emmanuel Macron promised victims of the city’s drug crime he would help. Grieving residents tell how he failed them

Inside, Emmanuel Macron was sharing a typically polished vision of a rejuvenated, safer Marseille. Yet it was outside the spruced-up gym in the impoverished Busserine district - tensions building on the hottest day of the year – where the real story was playing out.

Little more than 12 hours before the police killing of a 17-year-old boy 500 miles north in Nanterre would convulse the country, scores of officers clutching assault rifles and bulletproof riot shields clashed with teenagers of north African descent, trading insults as officers profiled potential troublemakers.

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France protests: nearly 1,000 arrested as riots surge in Marseille and Lyon

Fourth night of demonstrations sees 45,000 police deployed as authorities claim the situation is calmer

Nearly 1,000 people in France were arrested and 80 police injured during a fourth night of unrest triggered by the fatal police shooting of a teenager, but officials claimed the situation was calmer than on the previous night.

Forty-five thousand police officers, including special forces, were deployed to respond to rioting across the country on Friday night, with the situation in two major cities – Marseille and Lyon – highlighted as particular chaotic, with buildings and vehicles torched and stores looted.

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France riots: Macron urges parents to keep teenagers at home

Government struggles to contain continuing unrest after police shooting of teenager in Paris suburb

French riots – latest updates

Emmanuel Macron has urged parents to keep teenagers at home as France’s government said it was reviewing “all options” to contain escalating violence after three nights of rioting sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager at a traffic stop.

Promising additional security forces would be deployed on Friday night, Macron, who left an EU summit in Brussels early to attend a crisis cabinet meeting, appealed to “the responsibility of mothers and fathers” and said it was not the job of the French republic to take their place.

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Hundreds arrested in France on fourth night of unrest as reinforcements sent to Marseille – as it happened

Nationwide ban on bus and tram services follows violence triggered by the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old on Tuesday. This blog is now closed

An ambulance driver was filmed berating police after Nahel’s death. In the video, which has circulated widely online, he shouted at officers:

He’s 17, you see he has a baby face. For a driving licence offence. For a driving licence offence, brother. I know the lad, I watched him grow up. His mother brought him up all alone, his dad left. She’s going to bury her son. For a driving licence offence.

You’re going to see how it goes tonight. Everyone’s sleeping right now – you’re going to see how Nanterre awakens.

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France police shooting: violence erupts for a third consecutive night

Police fire teargas at rioters as 6,000 march through Nanterre to protest against shooting of 17-year-old

Violence has erupted for a third consecutive night in France as Emmanuel Macron struggles to contain mounting anger after the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old boy of north African descent during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.

The officer concerned was charged with voluntary homicide on Thursday and placed in provisional detention in the capital as an estimated 6,000 people marched through the streets of Nanterre in memory of the teenager, identified as Nahel M.

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March on UK Home Office over plan to deport jailed Just Stop Oil activist

German national Marcus Decker in prison for climbing Dartford bridge faces automatic deportation, say campaigners

Hundreds of protesters were expected to march to the Home Office on Saturday demanding deportation proceedings be called off for an environmental activist imprisoned for scaling the Dartford Crossing.

Marcus Decker is serving one of the longest sentences ever passed for a non-violent protest in British history after a Just Stop Oil demonstration in October. He is a German citizen with leave to remain in the UK, but faces automatic deportation after serving the two years and seven months sentence.

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France to shut down climate protest group citing public safety risks

Les Soulèvements de La Terre uses direct action aimed at big business interests

The French government is to shut down a climate protest group over a series of recent demonstrations citing risks to public safety, as the environmental activists called the decision “political and particularly worrying”.

Les Soulèvements de la Terre (Earth Uprising) is an umbrella group of several different environmental activist associations across France. It is seen as leading a new form of more radical climate action in Europe with high-profile direct action often aimed at big business interests, state projects and large-scale farming.

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Climate protesters block coal shipments in three states as Minns warns against ‘dangerous’ situations

Blockade Australia’s coordinated action targets ports in Newcastle, Brisbane and Melbourne

Climate protesters have disrupted coal shipments and motorway traffic at ports in Newcastle, Brisbane and Melbourne.

A climate protester has suspended herself from a rail bridge at the Newcastle coal ports, blocking trains, as coordinated protests were mounted at ports in Melbourne and Brisbane. The woman was livestreaming her solitary protest online and police were on site.

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UK government expected to table bill banning boycotts of Israeli goods

Michael Gove quoted as saying council-level sanctions undermine UK foreign policy and lead to antisemitic abuse

A government bill aimed at banning councils from imposing boycotts on Israeli goods is expected to be presented next week.

The proposed legislation will prevent public bodies from adopting their own approach to international relations, including through sanctions and divestment campaigns.

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Just Stop Oil protesters interrupt opera at Glyndebourne festival

Three activists use glitter cannons and air horns during performance of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites

Just Stop Oil protesters have interrupted a performance during the Glyndebourne opera festival in East Sussex by letting off glitter cannons and blowing air horns.

The disruption took place during a performance on Thursday of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites at the festival near Lewes.

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Calls for abortion to be decriminalised amid row over jailing of UK woman

Leading expert warns of ‘sustained attacks’ on reproductive rights after sentence imposed on Monday

Leading women’s health experts have warned of an attack on women’s reproductive rights and the potential for more prosecutions, following the jailing of a woman for terminating her pregnancy after the legal time limit.

The president of the UK’s leading body for sexual health professionals said that women should be “more worried than they are” following the sentencing, adding that it could lead to sustained attacks on established rights, and efforts to curtail reforms.

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Hong Kong protesters allegedly attacked by Chinese activists in Southampton

Police investigate after footage apparently shows three men assaulting a man and a woman

Police are investigating after footage emerged apparently showing pro-Hong Kong demonstrators being violently attacked by a group of Chinese activists in Southampton.

The alleged incident occurred after a rally to mark the anniversary of the 2019 protests for democratic changes in Hong Kong.

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Greta Thunberg takes part in her last school strike for climate

As activist graduates from school, she says she will still protest on Fridays as ‘fight has only just begun’

After what began as a solo protest in Sweden five years ago and grew into a movement with millions of children across the world participating, Greta Thunberg has taken part in her last “school strike” protest as she graduates from school.

The protests, which led to many climate activist movements across Europe, the US and Australia, are known as Fridays for Future or School Strike for Climate.

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Torches and T-shirts: Hongkongers defy attempts to forget Tiananmen

Annual vigil replaced by pro-Beijing carnival but some still manage to mark massacre amid heavy police presence

For the past three years, Hong Kong authorities have gone to great lengths to stop people from lighting candles in Victoria Park and publicly commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre – an annual tradition tens of thousands of residents had kept alive for three decades since the bloody crackdown in 1989.

This year, the city took it a step further. On Sunday, in place of a mass vigil was a patriotic carnival held by pro-Beijing groups, celebrating the city’s return to Chinese rule with food booths, and dance and music performances. Colourful banners urged carnival goers to “taste the joy”. Instead of candles, volunteers handed out plush toys.

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