France riots: Police killing of 17-year-old boy in Nanterre is catalyst for wanton destruction
It was past 2am when the fires and disorder of Nanterre came to our doorstep and lit up the sky, bringing devastation in its wake. This is a corner of France where anger and anarchy have taken a grip.
The middle of the night, but none of our team were asleep. It’s very hard to drift off when the tranquillity of night is so often punctuated by the sounds of fireworks and sirens, but then came different noises – the crackle of fire and the pops of small explosions.
The hotel where our team is staying overlooks the depot of an energy company. Parked there, protected by a tall wire fence, were a dozen vans next to a warehouse building. And now, through the night, an orange glow was getting ever bigger.
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Violent protests spread over teen killing
My colleague, the Europe news editor Sophie Garratt, was the first to hear the noise, looked out of her window and saw three people running away from the depot. Muffled words exchanged as they fled.
They had done what so many others did in Nanterre last night – lit a fire. We’d seen plenty of them that evening – bins dragged and set ablaze; roads blocked. Symbols of defiance.
But this was something very different. As we watched, the fire rapidly expanded. It consumed vehicle after vehicle. Pop went the tyres; bang went the fuel. Windows blown out. Red, orange, blue and green flames getting ever bigger.
Pic: Marc Hofer
We opened the window to see better what was happening, but the smoke was an acrid blend of molten fuel, rubber, metal, plastic and tarmacadam. Smell that for a few moments, and you want to close the window.
By now, the fire had turned into an inferno. In the corridor, some guests began to panic. “We’re getting out of here,” one man shouts through the open door. “This whole place is going to go up.”
Pic: Marc Hofer
A few minutes later, we see his car driving off, along with others.
As it turns out, he’s wrong. The fire service arrive. At first, it’s just one man, who surveys the scene and then returns with a hose and a second firefighter. They try to contain it, but it’s an uphill battle in the face of regular, unpredictable explosions as fuel tanks rupture.
But then more people arrive with more equipment. A cherry picker looms over us. And gradually, by about 4am, the battle is being won and the flames are dying down.
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Pic: Marc Hofer
What’s left behind is the smouldering wreckage of, I would guess, the best part of a million pound’s worth of vans and equipment. Who knows what damage has been done that we couldn’t see?
In some ways, they’re lucky. The warehouse itself is scorched, but still intact. The neighbouring buildings, including our hotel, didn’t catch light. But when the owner and employees come to look at the ashes and wreckage, I don’t imagine they’ll feel lucky.
This was wanton destruction, but it’s tied up with so many strands that you can’t simply write it off as vandalism.
Pic: Marc Hofer
In Nanterre, like other Paris suburbs and other French towns, there are plenty of people who feel marginalised, forgotten or discriminated against. Crime is high; literacy is low.
And when you get an event like the killing of 17-year-old Nahel, that becomes a catalyst.
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Clashes in France over teen’s death
Combine that with hot, dry evenings and you have the perfect ingredients for disaffected young people to take to the streets.
Nahel’s killing was, itself, rather like an act of arson. It started the fire of fury that has now engulfed this area for two nights in a row, along with other towns across France.
The question is, how long it will go on for? But, as we watched those flames devour so many things in such a short space of time, one thing was very obvious – conflagrations like this are much easier to start than they are to extinguish.
The Pope has said he is “deeply saddened” by the deaths of three people in an Israeli strike on the only Catholic church in Gaza.
A further nine people were wounded when the Gaza’s Holy Family Church was hit, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement.
“On behalf of the entire Church of the Holy Land, we extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved families, and from here, we offer our prayers for the swift and full recovery of the wounded,” the statement reads.
“The Latin Patriarchate strongly condemns this tragedy and this targeting of innocent civilians and of a sacred place.
“However, this tragedy is not greater or more terrible than the many others that have befallen Gaza.”
Parish priest Father Gabriele Romanelli, an Argentinian who used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the conflict in Gaza, was lightly injured in the attack.
Parish priest of the Church of the Holy Family, father Gabriele Romanelli, receives medical attention.
Pic: Reuters
In a telegram for the victims, Pope Leo said he was “deeply saddened” and called for “an immediate ceasefire”.
The Pope expressed his “profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region,” according to the telegram, which was signed by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told the Vatican News website that the church was shelled by a tank.
“What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure about this, they hit the Church directly, the Church of the Holy Family, the Latin Church”, he said
The church was sheltering both Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, according to Fadel Naem, acting director of Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the wounded.
Pope Leo XIV. File pic: Reuters
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it was “aware of reports regarding damage caused to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and casualties at the scene. The circumstances of the incident are under review”.
“The IDF makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites,
and regrets any damage caused to them,” the statement added.
Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement on X that the results of the investigation would be published.
It also said the country did not target churches or religious sites and regretted harm to them or civilians.
The previous pope, Francis, spoke almost daily with Gaza church. In the last 18 months of his life, Francis would often call the church in the Gaza Strip to see how people huddled inside were coping with a devastating war.
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At least 20 more people were killed on Thursday by Israeli attacks across the besieged enclave, medics said.
Throughout the 21-month war, more than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military campaign, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
Israel launched a retaliatory campaign against Hamas following the militant group’s 7 October 2023 attacks, during which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.
World
Syria’s president vows to protect Druze population after Israel airstrikes – as new ceasefire begins
Syria’s president has said protecting the rights of the Druze population is “our priority” after Israel warned it would destroy forces attacking the minority.
In a televised statement early today, Ahmed al Sharaa told the Druze “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.
Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.
Following the president’s announcement and a ceasefire agreement, Syrian government forces on Thursday largely withdrew from the volatile southern province of Sweida.
Under the terms of the agreement, Druze factions and clerics have been appointed to maintain internal security.
As the violence escalated in Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has pledged to “act resolutely against any terrorist threat on its borders”.
The Druze population follow an offshoot of Islam and are estimated to number about one million, spread between Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
Sharaa – Syria’s interim leader after President Assad fled last year – gave a televised statement on Wednesday telling the Druze “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.
“We are not among those who fear the war,” he added.
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Moment Israel strikes Syrian military HQ
“We have spent our lives facing challenges and defending our people, but we have put the interests of the Syrians before chaos and destruction,” said the president.
He also claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.
Israel has accused the Syrian regime of being barely disguised jihadists – despite warming ties with Western countries such as the UK and US.
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The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as of Wednesday morning, more than 300 people had been killed in the flare-up of violence.
Around 1,000 Druze people broke through a fence into southern Syria on Wednesday in a bid to help, according to The Times of Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu urged people not to cross into Syria and Israeli military chief of staff Eyal Zamir warned they would not “allow southern Syria to become a terror stronghold”.
The UN Security Council will discuss the situation today, despite the US secretary of state saying yesterday that America had brokered an end to the violence.
“We have engaged all the parties involved in the clashes in Syria,” Marco Rubio said on social media.
“We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight.”
Syrian soldiers were seen pulling out of Sweida overnight. Pic: Reuters
The intervention appeared to have an immediate effect.
The situation was calm on Thursday morning, according to Reuters sources in the area.
A sex scandal has rocked Thailand’s Buddhist clergy after a woman allegedly enticed a string of monks into having sex with her and then blackmailed them.
At least nine abbots and senior monks have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said.
Wilawan Emsawat, in her mid-30s, is accused of enticing senior monks into having sex with her and then pressuring them into making large payments to cover it up.
Thai monks are largely members of the Theravada sect, which requires them to be celibate and refrain from even touching a woman.
Several monks transferred large amounts of money after Wilawan initiated romantic relationships with them, police said -her bank accounts received around 385 million baht (£8.8m) in the past three years, with most of that spent on gambling websites.
Wilawan was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province, north of the capital Bangkok, on charges including extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods.
Thai media reported a search of her mobile phones revealed tens of thousands of photos and videos, as well as numerous chat logs indicating intimacy with several monks, many of which could be used for blackmail.
Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau holding a press conference in Bangkok. Pic: Central Investigation Bureau/AP
An investigation was launched last month after an abbot of a famous temple in Bangkok abruptly left the monkhood.
He had allegedly been blackmailed by Wilawan over their romantic relationship, investigators found.
She told the monk she was pregnant and asked him to pay her 7.2 million baht (£165,000), Jaroonkiat Pankaew, a Central Investigation Bureau deputy commissioner, said at a news conference in Bangkok on Tuesday.
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Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai ordered authorities to review and consider tightening existing laws related to monks and temples, especially the transparency of temple finances, to restore faith in Buddhism, government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said on Tuesday.
The Central Investigation Bureau has set up a Facebook page for people to report monks who misbehave, Mr Jaroonkiat said.
“We will investigate monks across the country,” he said. “I believe that the ripple effects of this investigation will lead to a lot of changes.”
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