France riots: Looters break into gun shop as hundreds arrested on fourth night of violence
Looters broke into a gun shop in Marseille and hundreds of arrests were made across France as riots continued for a fourth night.
Violent protests spread throughout the country after a 17-year-old, named as Nahel M, was shot by police during a traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday.
In the aftermath, people have taken to the streets on four consecutive nights to protest, setting cars alight, throwing stones and fireworks, and ransacking shops.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told TF1 television there had already been 471 arrests made so far overnight, with more than 80 in Marseille.
Police said looters broke into a shop selling guns in the city and ran off with several hunting rifles. One person was arrested nearby with one of the weapons, officers said.
Social media images showed an explosion rocking Marseille’s old port area. City authorities said they were investigating the cause but did not believe there were any casualties.
The mayor of the city, Benoit Payan, has called for the national government to send additional troops to the city, describing scenes of unacceptable “pillaging and violence”.
In a message to fire and police forces, interior minister Darmanin said: “The next hours will be decisive and I know I can count on your flawless efforts.”
He added that 45,000 extra police officers, including paramilitary gendarmes, had been deployed across France on Friday – 5,000 more than the previous night and that though the level of violence was “unacceptable” the country was not yet at the point where the government felt it needed to declare a state of emergency.
Clashes were reported in several other cities, including Lyon in the southeast.
There was also looting reported earlier in Strasbourg in broad daylight, including from an Apple store and several supermarkets.
In central Paris, police removed a group of protesters from the Place de la Concorde, while fires were started in other parts of the capital.
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Fireworks lit in Lyon streets as rioting continues across France
French football superstar Kylian Mbappe, who previously described Nahel’s death as an “unacceptable situation”, appealed for calm.
He wrote on Twitter: “Violence solves nothing… There are other peaceful and constructive ways to express yourself. It is in this that our energies and our thoughts must be concentrated.
“The time of violence must end to give way to that of mourning, dialogue and reconstruction.”
A man stands near a burning container in Paris on Friday
People run away during clashes with police in Lyon. Pic: AP
Police officers face off with protesters in Place de la
Concorde, Paris, on Friday evening. Pic: AP
Police said 917 arrests were made during clashes overnight on Thursday and into Friday morning.
Officials said the average age of those detained was 17 – with some as young as 13.
Some key locations where the rioting has taken place
Elsewhere across France, a young man has died after he fell from the roof of a supermarket in the city of Rouen during rioting, local authorities said.
A police source claimed the man plunged from the building, in the suburb of Petit-Quevilly in the Bruyeres shopping centre, while it was being looted overnight on Thursday.
President Emmanuel Macron has urged parents to keep teenagers at home to limit potential rioting in the coming days.
He also blamed social media for fuelling copycat violence and said it had played a “significant role in the events of the past few days”.
Read more:
Another night of looting and lawlessness – and nobody knows what will happen next
Killed teen’s name shared almost half a million times online
View of burnt buses at a RATP bus depot in Aubervilliers, damaged during night clashes
Mr Macron has also been urged to get a grip on the crisis after going to an Elton John concert on Wednesday, the day after the shooting.
“While France was on fire, Macron was not at the side of his minister of the interior or the police, but he preferred to applaud Elton John,” said Thierry Mariani, an MEP for National Rally.
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Third night of rioting in France
Youths ‘intoxicated by video games’
Mr Macron said a third of the individuals arrested on Thursday were “young people, sometimes very young”, and that “it’s the parents’ responsibility” to keep their children at home.
“We sometimes have the feeling that some of them are living in the streets [of] the video games that have intoxicated them,” he said of rioters.
On Friday, following a second crisis meeting, Mr Darmanin issued an order to stop buses and tram services at night.
When asked on French TV if the government might declare a state of emergency, the minister said: “Quite simply, we’re not ruling out any hypothesis and we’ll see after tonight what the President of the Republic chooses.”
Read more:
Mbappe speaks out after teen’s killing
Analysis: Tear gas and stun grenades won’t stop riots
Why are people protesting in France?
Authorities in the Paris region had already announced a transport shutdown to protect staff and passengers. The city’s Metro system will also shut an hour earlier this weekend following a request from local police.
Concerts by Canadian-born French pop star Mylène Farmer – scheduled to have been held at Paris’ Stade de France stadium on Friday and Saturday night – have been cancelled due to the riots, according to an official from the Seine-Saint-Denis district.
Tour de France organisers said they were ready to adapt to any situation when the bicycle race enters the country on Monday after starting in the Spanish city of Bilbao.
On Thursday, 40,000 police officers were deployed across France – nearly four times the number mobilised on Wednesday.
French police stand in position as fireworks go off during clashes with youth on Thursday
‘He didn’t want to kill him’
Thus far, appeals from the government to de-escalate the situation continue to fall on deaf ears.
In Nanterre, where the police shooting took place, protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police following a vigil.
Armoured police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars that had been flipped and set ablaze in the Paris suburb.
Meanwhile, the police officer who shot and killed the teenager asked the family of the boy for forgiveness.
His lawyer Laurent-Franck Lienard told BFMTV: “The first words he pronounced were to say sorry and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family.
“He is devastated, he doesn’t get up in the morning to kill people. He didn’t want to kill him.”
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France protests: Car smashes into Lidl
Mr Lienard added that his client’s detention was being used to try to calm rioters.
The teenager’s burial is scheduled for Saturday, according to Nanterre Mayor Patrick Jarry, who said the country needs to “push for changes” in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
“There’s a feeling of injustice in many residents’ minds, whether it’s about school achievement, getting a job, access to culture, housing and other life issues,” he said.
“I believe we are in that moment when we need to face the urgency [of the situation].”
Both India and Pakistan claimed they didn’t want all-out war, or for things to escalate.
But given that those statements came within hours of airstrikes from either side, it’s easy to understand why the world was sceptical.
Fast forward just a few hours though and a ceasefire has been agreed – with the help of the US, who brokered talks and even announced the deal.
India-Pakistan live: Latest updates as ceasefire agreed
The agreement has sparked celebrations in Pakistan, with people in many cities, including Lahore, taking to the streets. Chants of “Pakistan Zindabad” – “Long Live Pakistan” in English – are ringing out.
But the deal doesn’t undo the events of the past two weeks, which will continue to weigh heavily on the minds of many here.
The military action has been the most significant between the countries in decades and dozens have died on both sides.
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Pakistan fires missiles at India
Just this morning, Pakistan inflicted some serious damage to India’s military sites and New Delhi did not waste time responding with further strikes.
It was a reminder, for many, of the uncertainty of the situation between India and Pakistan.
Read more:
How India and Pakistan’s militaries match up
The story of India and Pakistan’s deadly conflict
A house damaged in Indian shelling, in Shah Kot, in Neelum Vallery. Pic: AP/M.D. Mughal
Representatives from each country will speak again on Monday and even with the strikes halted, for now, the next 48 hours will be a very testing moment.
Both sides have often shown striking strategic restraint. And in the past fortnight, neither has launched a full-scale attack.
But their enmity has been enduring, and even with the agreement in place, it feels a bit complacent to assume India and Pakistan will just walk back from the brink.
World
Terror group supporters posted on TikTok, YouTube and Google from site targeted in Indian airstrikes
Social media accounts expressing support for a Pakistan-based terror group linked to al Qaeda appear to have posted recent videos from a Pakistan mosque targeted by Indian airstrikes.
Sky News has found videos posted on TikTok, YouTube and Google that appear to be filmed at the Markaz Taiba Mosque in Muridke. The captions and usernames contain expressions of support for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and a group called ‘313’.
Sky News has found and geolocated multiple videos that appear to be filmed in the area where the captions include either or both ‘313’ and LeT.
Some of the videos show men in the streets with guns. Another post captioned a video of children doing martial arts training inside the targeted mosque, “we are little soldiers, and we fight the non-believers”.
The caption of the video reads ‘we are little soldiers, and we fight the non-believers’. It uses the hashtag ‘313’.
The caption uses the hashtag #جہاد313, which translates to ‘313’ jihad.
‘313’ appears to refer to the 313 Brigade, a proscribed terror organisation in Pakistan.
In a TikTok video posted to the Google page for Markaz Taiba Mosque in Muridke, a man can be seen walking along the street with a gun.
The account that posted that video wrote in their description, “Lashkar Taiba, Mujahid Force, ‘313’ and Markaz Taiba Muridke”, self-proclaiming their support for the groups.
This screenshot from the Google user labels Lashkar-e-Taiba and ‘313’ and includes the location name Muridke
India’s retaliatory strikes on Pakistani-adminstered Kashmir and Pakistan on 7 May came after a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir last month.
Gunmen opened fire on tourists, killing 26 people and injuring dozens in a popular holiday spot near Pahalgam, Kashmir, on 22 April.
LeT were accused by India of involvement in the Pahalgam attack through their proxy the Resistance Front, which claimed responsibility for the attack.
LeT, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN Security Council and the UK, focuses on fighting Indian control in Kashmir and is based in the Punjab region of Pakistan.
Pakistan denies allegations of terror camps operating in the country. This region has been in the control of the Punjabi government since 2010. The Punjab government condemned the Indian strikes, and declared a state of emergency across Punjab.
Muskan Sangwan, senior intelligence analyst at TRAC, a terrorism research and analysis consortium, told Sky News: “Brigade 313 is al Qaeda in Pakistan. It’s an umbrella organisation for members of several groups like Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Haqqat ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Jaish-e Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Jundullah.”
Ms Sangwan explained that ‘313’ refers to the number of companions said to have fought with the Prophet Mohammed in the Battle of Badr.
TRAC have seen a recent uptick in TikTok videos and other social media posts that refer to ‘313’.
Many of the accounts are linked to each other.
Ms Sangwan said: “They [the TikTok users] mostly use ‘313’ as a hashtag… trying to push that hashtag to as many people it can reach on social media.”
Sky News sought to verify the location by comparing before and after videos from the strike location, and using the video released by the Indian army conducting the strike.
One video showing damage at the strike location was posted by a user with 313 in their TikTok username.
The TikTok account that posted video footage of the destruction in Muridke has 313 in the username
Below is satellite imagery that shows the destruction of the site.
Satellite imagery shows Markaz Taiba Mosque after the strike on 7 May. Credit: Maxar
In one TikTok, the video is captioned “bring your arms and ammunition and go to war”. The text on the screen of the TikTok is ‘313’ and he is carrying a gun.
The group are comfortable with having an online presence. On the Google tag for Markaz Taiba Mosque in Muridke, men pose for a group photo. Almost all the people in the photo have used ‘313’ on TikTok.
Ms Sangwan explained: “With these people from Muridke, pushing this propaganda on social media would generate a lot of significance in terms of recruitment and in terms of gaining support from local people and from other people.”
Sky News’ Asia correspondent Cordelia Lynch has reported on the ground in Muridke.
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Anger in Pakistan after India strikes
India says it struck Markaz Taiba, a site in Muridke about 15 miles (25km) from the border, which has long been claimed to be a terrorist training site associated with LeT.
MEMRI, a US-based research group that monitors terrorist threats, told Sky News: “It has been known for decades that Lashkar-e-Taiba has its headquarters in Muridke.”
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Sky News contacted the Pakistan Ministry of Defence for comment. Khawaja Asif, Pakistan’s defence minister, told Sky News: “This appears to be a random video with background music added later – consistent with how TikTok trends often function. If this is to be considered credible evidence, we could produce millions of similar clips ourselves.”
Mr Asif also said that any suggestion that the mosque was used as a base by terrorists was a “completely false, social media made up hoax”.
On 7 May, after the strikes in Pakistan, the Indian subcontinent branch of al Qaeda issued a statement condemning India’s actions and encouraging its supporters to wage jihad against India.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
European leaders including Sir Keir Starmer have threatened Vladimir Putin with fresh sanctions if Russia fails to comply with an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.
The prime minister met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, recently-elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Kyiv on Saturday.
It is the first time the leaders of the four countries have travelled to Ukraine – arriving by train – at the same time.
They updated Donald Trump on the progress made on the so-called “coalition of the willing” plans in a 20-minute phone call.
European leaders including Volodymyr Zelenskyy hold call with Donald Trump. Pic: Number 10
Following the summit, the leaders announced an agreement that there should be an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting on Monday, with the backing of the US president.
“All of us here, together with US, are calling Putin out,” said Sir Keir.
“So we are clear, all five leaders here – all the leaders of the meeting we just had with the coalition of the willing – an unconditional ceasefire, rejecting Putin’s conditions, and clear that if he turns his back on peace, we will respond.
“Working with President Trump, with all our partners, we will ramp up sanctions and increase our military aid for Ukraine’s defence to pressure Russia back to the table.”
Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz travelling in the saloon car of a special train to Kyiv. Pic: Reuters
Leaders arrive in Kyiv by train. Pic: PA
It comes after Donald Trump called for “ideally” a 30-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, and warned that if any pause in the fighting is not respected “the US and its partners will impose further sanctions”.
Security and defence analyst Michael Clarke told Sky News presenter Samantha Washington the European leaders are “rowing in behind” the US president, who referred to his “European allies” for the first time in this context in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“So this meeting is all about heaping pressure on the Russians to go along with the American proposal,” he said.
“It’s the closest the Europeans and the US have been for about three months on this issue.”
Trump calls for ceasefire. Pic: Truth Social
Mr Zelenskyy told reporters the agreed ceasefire should cover air, sea and land, and said that if Moscow refused, Russia would face new sanctions, including the strengthening of punitive measures targeting its energy and banking sectors.
The European leaders said the terms of a peace deal would be negotiated during the 30-day pause in fighting.
But the Ukrainian president said: “We have no illusions that the ceasefire will be breached.”
Mr Macron said the proposed ceasefire would be monitored mainly by the US and European countries and there would be “massive” sanctions if Russia did not agree.
Sir Keir and Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting in March. Pic: AP
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Putin’s Victory Day parade explained
Military officers from around 30 countries have been involved in drawing up plans for a coalition, which would provide a peacekeeping force in the event of a ceasefire being agreed between Russia and Ukraine.
This force “would help regenerate Ukraine’s armed forces after any peace deal and strengthen confidence in any future peace”, according to Number 10.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Friday that Russia supported the implementation of a 30-day ceasefire, but only with due consideration of “nuances”.
European leaders show solidarity – but await Trump’s backing
The hope is Russia’s unilateral ceasefire, such as it’s worth, can be extended for a month to give peace a chance.
But ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian sources told Sky News they are still waiting for President Donald Trump to put his full weight behind the idea.
The US leader has said a 30-day ceasefire would be ideal, but has shown no willingness yet for putting pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin to agree.
The Russians say a ceasefire can only come after a peace deal can be reached.
European allies are still putting their hopes in a negotiated end to the war despite Moscow’s intransigence and President Trump’s apparent one-sided approach favouring Russia.
Ukrainians would prefer to be given enough economic and military support to secure victory.
But in over three years, despite its massive economic superiority to Russia and its access to more advanced military technology, Europe has not found the political will to give Kyiv the means to win.
Until they do, Vladimir Putin may decide it is still worth pursuing this war despite its massive cost in men and materiel on both sides.
As the European leaders pulled into Kyiv by train on Saturday, the screen on the platform announced the arrival of the “Bravery Express”.
Read more:
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Michael Clarke Q&A on Ukraine war
Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of breaching ceasefire
Mr Zelenskyy accompanied them as they paid their respects at a memorial in central Kyiv to honour Ukrainian soldiers killed in the current war.
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The visit came on the final day of a three-day ceasefire unilaterally declared by Mr Putin, which was denounced as a sham by Ukraine.
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Both sides have accused each other of violating it.
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