French: Police Reinforcements Deployed after Funeral held for Teenager Nael Marzouki

France is braced for a possible fifth night of unrest, as reinforcements and riot police were sent out and curfews imposed across major cities.

The measures came as French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a state visit to Germany on Sunday because of the unrest, triggered by the police killing of a teenager in a Paris suburb on Tuesday.

Mr Macron has faced called to declare a state of emergency, after more than 1,300 people were arrested and 45,000 police were on the streets in the fourth night of rioting on Friday, when there was widespread looting and arson.

Trams and buses in Paris and the Ile de France region are expected to stop at 9pm, the Régie autonome des Transports Parisiens said on Saturday.

Marseille is expecting “massive reinforcements” in riot police, as well as two helicopters and armoured vehicles, the district police said in a statement. Public transport will stop after 8pm, and all public protests are banned until 7am on Sunday.

A newly formed special unit of riot police, the CRS-8, is expected to arrive in Lyon on Saturday night.

This followed a request for “more reinforcements” from Lyon’s Mayor Gregory Doucet.

“We need more reinforcements, more national police to ensure the safety of the city,” he said at a press conference that day.

The eastern city of Saint Etienne stopped its public transport services in the early afternoon on Saturday, and declared a curfew for minors from 7pm to 6am on Sunday morning.

“Last night, we noted insufficient police numbers,” he added.

French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told French news channel BFMTV that 30 per cent of the protesters were minors and threatened to “break” the social media accounts of users inciting violence.

The funeral of the French teenager, Nahel M, took place in Nanterre, in north-west of Paris on Saturday. This was where Nahel lived and was shot dead on Tuesday. He was buried at the Mont Valerien cemetery after prayers at Ibn Badis mosque.

The service was private and lawyers for Nahel’s mother asked the media to stay away.

Nahel was fatally shot after being stopped by police for driving a car in the bus lane. His death has prompted the worst riots in France since 2005, when two boys of African origin were killed in a police chase.

Nahel’s body was taken from the funeral home on Saturday morning by his family to the mosque, in a scene which French news outlet France24 described as “calm but tense”.

There was a large police presence on the streets of the French capital.

“Everyone is gathered here, his close friends, his family and the imams who will organise the prayers in homage to Nahel,” said Ethan Hajji for France24.

A woman from Nanterre said she had come to support Nahel’s mother. “Peace be on his soul, may justice be served. I came to support the mother, she had only him, poor woman,” she told AFP as she came out of the funeral home.

The Ibn Badis Institute said it expected “exceptional crowds” to turn up for the funeral.

Early on Saturday, firefighters in Nanterre extinguished blazes set by protesters that left scorched remains of cars strewn across the streets. In the neighbouring suburb of Colombes, protesters overturned bins and used them as makeshift barricades.

The violence was spread across the country.

Looters broke into a gun shop and took weapons in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police said. Officers there arrested about 90 people as groups of protesters set cars on fire, broke shop windows and began looting.

Buildings and businesses were also vandalised in the eastern city of Lyon, where a third of the roughly 30 arrests made were for theft, police said. Authorities reported fires in the streets after an unauthorised protest drew more than 1,000 people earlier on Friday evening.

The Interior Ministry said 1,311 arrests were made during the night, with more than 2,500 incidents of fire in public spaces. The night before, 917 people were arrested nationwide, 500 buildings attacked, 2,000 vehicles burnt and dozens of stores ransacked.

A third witness to Nahel’s shooting revealed on Friday that he fled the scene out of “fear” of being shot, as Nahel “trembled” in pain.

According an online video published by the witness, which has been verified by French media, two police officers hit Nahel several times with the butt of their gun, causing his foot to slip from the brake pedal.

Meanwhile a number of countries have sent messages of goodwill to the French government and people during the turmoil.

The witness, who was in the car with Nahel at the time of the shooting, is expected to submit his testimony to the police on Monday.

On Saturday the UAE expressed its “full solidarity with the French Republic”. It stressed “the importance of restoring calm, de-escalation, and respect for the rules and principles of law in France”.