NEW DELHI: French president Emmanuel Macron has come under furious criticism after being seen dancing at an Elton John concert even as rioters in Paris took to the streets for a third successive night in protest at the fatal shooting of a teenager by police.
According to several media reports, anger is mounting against Macron after he was filmed at Paris’s Accor Arena, watching Elton on his farewell tour, as looting of high-end shopfronts along the Rue de Rivoli was going on in central Paris.
Thursday night saw some of the most destructive protests Paris has seen in over a decade. Gangs were filmed pillaging shops and running into outlets and smashing windows.Videos on social media showed urban landscapes ablaze across the country. A tram was set alight in the eastern city of Lyon and 12 buses gutted in a depot in Aubervilliers, northern Paris.
France’s interior ministry said some 249 officers were injured in last night’s violence. Over 650 protesters were arrested.
Violence hit Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse and Lille as well as parts of Paris, including the working class suburb of Nanterre, where 17-year-old Nahel M. – who was of Algerian and Moroccan descent – was shot dead on Tuesday during a traffic stop.
Prime minister Elisabeth Borne called the violence “intolerable and inexcusable” and reaffirmed her support for police and firefighters who were “bravely carrying out their duties”.
Macron convenes crisis meeting
Macron has cut short his attendance at an EU summit in Brussels on Friday to return to France amid growing unrest.
He has called an emergency meeting within his government following the night of violence and unrest.
Macron has so far ruled out declaring a state of emergency.
But Macron’s photo with Elton ignited outrage overnight, with Thierry Mariani, an MEP with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, raging: ‘While France was on fire, Macron applauded Elton John’.
According to several media reports, anger is mounting against Macron after he was filmed at Paris’s Accor Arena, watching Elton on his farewell tour, as looting of high-end shopfronts along the Rue de Rivoli was going on in central Paris.
Thursday night saw some of the most destructive protests Paris has seen in over a decade. Gangs were filmed pillaging shops and running into outlets and smashing windows.Videos on social media showed urban landscapes ablaze across the country. A tram was set alight in the eastern city of Lyon and 12 buses gutted in a depot in Aubervilliers, northern Paris.
France’s interior ministry said some 249 officers were injured in last night’s violence. Over 650 protesters were arrested.
Violence hit Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse and Lille as well as parts of Paris, including the working class suburb of Nanterre, where 17-year-old Nahel M. – who was of Algerian and Moroccan descent – was shot dead on Tuesday during a traffic stop.
Prime minister Elisabeth Borne called the violence “intolerable and inexcusable” and reaffirmed her support for police and firefighters who were “bravely carrying out their duties”.
Macron convenes crisis meeting
Macron has cut short his attendance at an EU summit in Brussels on Friday to return to France amid growing unrest.
He has called an emergency meeting within his government following the night of violence and unrest.
Macron has so far ruled out declaring a state of emergency.
But Macron’s photo with Elton ignited outrage overnight, with Thierry Mariani, an MEP with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, raging: ‘While France was on fire, Macron applauded Elton John’.
The unrest has revived memories of riots in 2005 that convulsed France for three weeks and forced then-president Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency.
That wave of violence erupted in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois and spread across the country following the death of two young men who ended up being electrocuted in a power substation as they hid from police.
(With inputs from agencies)