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Hundreds of mourners gather for funeral of teenager killed by police as riots continue in France

  • At a cemetery in Nanterre, the Paris suburb where the teenager was killed, mourners carried his casket from a mosque to the burial site
  • Some 2,400 people have been arrested in France amid riots sparked by the 17-year-old’s death on Tuesday, as protests head into a fifth night

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People wait next to the entrance of Mont Valerien cemetery ahead of the funeral of Nahel Merzouk, in Nanterre, near Paris, France on Saturday. Photo: EPA-EFE
Associated Press

Hushed and visibly anguished, hundreds of mourners from France’s Islamic community formed a solemn procession from a mosque to a hillside cemetery on Saturday to bury a 17-year-old whose killing by police has triggered days of rioting and looting across the nation.

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Underscoring the gravity of the crisis, French President Emmanuel Macron scrapped an official trip to Germany after a fourth straight night of unrest across France. Officials said they were again deploying 45,000 police to the streets nationwide in an effort to head off a fifth night of violence.

Some 2,400 people have been arrested overall since the teenager’s death on Tuesday. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted late on Saturday that 200 riot police would be mobilised in the port city of Marseille, where television showed footage of tear gas and officers in the streets as night fell.

Police said 29 people were arrested there, and at least 37 were arrested in Paris near the Champs-Elysées, where police vans were seen parked outside luxury shops in one of the capital’s most high-profile areas.

Police officers patrol in front of the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France on Saturday. Photo: AP
Police officers patrol in front of the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France on Saturday. Photo: AP
The unrest was taking a toll on Macron’s diplomatic profile. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s office said Macron phoned on Saturday to request a postponement of what would have been the first state visit by a French president to Germany in 23 years. Macron had been expected to fly to Germany on Sunday evening for the visit to Berlin and two other German cities.
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