France government on Friday deployed 45,000 police backed by light armoured vehicles to tackle a fourth straight night of violent protests after the fatal police shooting of a teenager, reports AP.
Crack police units and other security forces fanned out across the country to subdue violence over the shooting, which took place during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb on Tuesday.
Despite the security presence, looting took place on Friday night in the cities of Lyon, Marseille and Grenoble with bands of often hooded rioters pillaging shops.
Protesters also set fire to cars and trash bins.
There was daylight looting Friday in the eastern city of Strasbourg, where rioters targeted an Apple Store and other shops.
Police used teargas in the southern city of Marseille after youths threw projectiles at police vehicles in the Vieux-Port district, which is popular with tourists.
Marseille mayor Benoit Payan called for troop reinforcements saying the "scenes of looting and violence are unacceptable".
Eighty people were arrested in Marseille among the 270 nationwide Friday, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
French President Emmanuel Macron, after rushing back from an EU summit to chair a crisis meeting, denounced the "unacceptable exploitation of a death of an adolescent" in some quarters.
- 'Day of reflection' -
The unrest was sparked by the killing of 17-year-old Nahel, which revived longstanding grievances about policing and racial profiling in France's low-income and multi-ethnic suburbs.
He is due to be buried in a ceremony on Saturday, according to the mayor of Nanterre -- the Paris suburb where he lived and was killed.
The family's lawyers asked journalists to stay away, saying it was "a day of reflection" for Nahel's relatives.
Macron has attempted to strike a balance between pressure for a harsh response and fears of triggering a stronger backlash.
Interior Minister Darmanin said crack units from both the police and the paramilitary gendarme force were among the 45,000 officers deployed Friday.
"These next few hours will be decisive," Darmanin wrote in a note to the emergency services.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne also announced the cancellations of large-scale events -- such as concerts -- across the country.
Buses and trams, targeted in some of the previous nights' violence, stopped running at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) and the sale of large fireworks and inflammable liquids has been banned.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
