France unrest eases but tensions remain high

French authorities said that the unrest and protests that stemmed from the police-involved killing of a local teenager have eased, but tensions on both sides remain high. 

According to The New York Times, local mayors across the country have organized peace gatherings in an effort to protest violent attacks on elected officials. 

The French Interior Ministry said that nearly 160 people were arrested, and three law enforcement officers were injured, which is far fewer than previous days when authorities detained as many as 1,300 people into custody. 

“When you arrest 3,200 people, when the courts put people on trial, when you put on a show of republican force — a fair order, but an order, nonetheless — I think that has largely contributed to this return to calm,” French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told reporters, the Times reported. 

Darmanin also said that fewer incidents were reported across the country as authorities deployed 45,000 police officers and gendarmes for a third consecutive night to help ease the situation. 

The latest updates come a week after the violence in the country first began in response to the police-involved shooting of Nahel Merzouk. 

Merzouk, a 17-year-old French citizen of North African descent, was shot and killed by a police officer during a a traffic stop last week in Nanterre, a suburb outside of Paris. 

The unidentified police officer who fired the shot was placed under formal investigation on charges of voluntary homicide and detained, the Times reported. 

The French protests of Merzouk’s killing is similar to the unrest and protests that happened in the U.S. during the summer of 2020 in response to the death of George Floyd. Floyd died after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.