CNN
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French authorities arrested about 150 people overnight as protests broke out for a second night over the fatal police shooting of a teenager, officials said Thursday.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin tweeted that “town halls, schools and police stations were set on fire or attacked” during a night of “intolerable violence.”
Anger is rising in France over the death of the 17-year-old, identified as Naël, who was shot by police during a traffic stop Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.
The incident triggered violent protests in several Paris suburbs on Tuesday night, during which 24 police officers were injured and 40 cars set alight, French authorities said.
In anticipation of violence stretching into a second evening, 2,000 extra police officers were mobilized Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.
Darmanin expressed support for police and firefighters, saying: “shame on those who did not call for calm.”
The officer who allegedly shot the teenager was taken into custody Tuesday and will undergo questioning by prosecutors, Nanterre prosecutor’s office told CNN.
On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron chaired a meeting of the interministerial crisis unit over the incident and subsequent protests, according to the Interior Ministry.
“We have seen scenes of violences against the police stations but also schools, city halls, therefore against institutions and against the republic,” Macron told reporters before the meeting.
“These actions are completely unjustifiable.”
Macron earlier also said the fatal shooting of the youth was “unjustifiable.”
Prosecutors said the teen was in the car, a Mercedes AMG, with two others at the time of the incident.
The death of the 17-year-old was pronounced Tuesday morning “following at least one gunshot wound” and despite the intervention of emergency medics, the Nanterre prosecutor’s office said earlier.
A passenger in the vehicle was taken into custody and later released, while another passenger, who is believed to have fled the scene, is missing, the statement said.
An autopsy and additional examinations, including a toxicology report, have been ordered by the prosecutor’s office.
The incident is also being investigated by national police, Interior Minister Darmanin said earlier on Twitter.
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