Peak of protests over police killing is over, says France's Macron

ANKARA

The peak of protests following last week’s police killing of a teenager of North African descent has passed, the French president reportedly said Tuesday.

"We must get down to restoring the sustainable order as our absolute priority," Emmanuel Macron told a group of mayors of towns where violence has occurred, according to French broadcaster BFMTV.

"I will be cautious for the following days and weeks but the peak has passed," Macron added, addressing 241 mayors at Paris’ Elysee Palace.

The French police arrested 72 more people overnight in nationwide protests over the killing of a 17-year-old by police gunfire last week, local media reported on Tuesday.

According to Interior Ministry figures provided to Le Figaro daily, since June 27 police arrested a total of 3,846 people, and nearly 5,900 vehicles were set on fire nationwide, as well as 1,105 buildings.

Over 260 polices stations were also targeted and 808 law enforcement officers were injured since the beginning of the protests.

Protests have rocked France since June 27, when a police officer shot dead Nahel M., 17, of Algerian descent during a traffic check in the Paris suburb of Nanterre after he allegedly ignored orders to stop.

The officer who fired the shot faces a formal investigation for voluntary homicide and has been placed under preliminary detention.

The protest began in Nanterre and spread to other cities the next evening, including Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, and Marseille.

Tensions rose following clashes between police and protesters.

'France's image hurt'

Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, chairman of the business and employers' network Movement of French Enterprises (MEDEF), said that more than 200 shops had been looted and 300 bank branches destroyed since the protests started, daily Le Parisien reported.

"It’s too soon to give exact numbers but it’s already more than a billion euros ($1.1 billion), without even counting the damage in the touristic aspect," he said in an interview on Monday. "The videos circulated on social media hurt France's image."

Education Minister Pap Ndiaye told broadcaster RTL on Tuesday that 243 school buildings had also been damaged during the protests, including a dozen destroyed or partially destroyed.

He also mentioned some dozen million euros in damages, stressing that the state will give the needed support to local authorities.