The violent protests that have shaken France Unrest in response to the killing of a 17-year-old by a police officer continued for a fifth night, as the authorities arrested hundreds of people nationwide overnight Saturday, and demonstrators clashed with police officers in riot gear.
A government minister described the evening as calmer than recent ones, but local news media reported rioting, looting and clashes in Marseille, the second-largest city in France. While the number of officers deployed across the country had not increased, more were sent to quell protesters in Lyon, Grenoble and Marseille, according to the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin.
Tensions remained high after the funeral Saturday for the 17-year-old, of Algerian and Moroccan descent, who was fatally shot on Tuesday during a traffic stop in Nanterre, a Paris suburb. Many protesters saw themselves in the victim, connecting his fate with their own experiences of neglect and racial discrimination in France’s poorer urban suburbs.
In a statement on Twitter early Sunday, Mr. Darmanin, the interior minister, said 427 people had been arrested overnight on Saturday. On Friday night, more than 1,300 had been detained. He added that 45,000 police officers had been deployed across the country on Saturday evening, a number similar to the night before.
Maud Bodoukian contributed reporting.
