Over 1,300 people were arrested in France overnight as violence and looting continued in cities around the country for the fourth night in a row amid anger over the police shooting of a teenager.
With the troubles showing no sign of relenting, French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a state visit to Germany that was to begin on Sunday.
The government claimed Friday's violence had "lessened" compared to previous nights, but the interior ministry said 1,311 people had been arrested, compared with 875 the previous night, as police dealt with looting in the cities of Marseille, Lyon and Grenoble.
"It's the republic that will win, not the rioters," France's interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, said in the early hours of Saturday morning. He denounced the "unacceptable violence in Lyon and Marseille" where protests were banned and public transport cancelled.
Fireworks explode during clashes with police in Le Port, French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion. /Richard Bouhet/AFP
More than 45,000 officers were deployed, backed by armored vehicles and elite police units, in a bid to crack down on the protesters. At least 79 police and gendarmes were injured.
More than 1,300 vehicles and 230 buildings were set alight, according to government figures, with thousands more fires reported in public spaces.
Despite government claims, the numbers are higher than on any night since the demonstrations began on Tuesday, sparked by the death of 17-year-old Nahel who was shot dead by a police officer in a Paris suburb. The incident was caught on camera.
'Much less intensity'
Despite rain pouring on Paris and its suburbs since the small hours of Saturday, rioting also flared up there, with close to half the nationwide arrests, 406, made in and around the capital, according to police.
However, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin claimed on Saturday that the night's violence had been of "much less intensity."
That was after Darmanin announced an "exceptional" deployment of police and gendarmes to deal with the riots over the death of Nahel, who will be buried on Saturday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre where he lived and was killed.
Dozens of police vans were positioned not far from the entrance to the Vieux Pont district of Nanterre, which was the epicenter of the unrest, and nine people had been arrested for carrying Molotov cocktails and petrol canisters.
Protesters clash with riot police in Marseille over the police killing of a teenage boy in a Paris suburb. /Christophe Simon/AFP
The French national football team joined government calls for an end to the clashes.
"The time of violence must give way to that of mourning, dialogue and reconstruction," the team said in a statement posted on social media by captain and Paris Saint-Germain player Kylian Mbappe.
Les Bleus said they were "shocked by the brutal death of young Nahel" but asked that violence give way to "other peaceful and constructive ways of expressing oneself."
Marseille clashes
The southern port city of Marseille was again the scene of looting and violent standoffs with the police, just days after a visit from President Emmanuel Macron.
In the city center's shopping district, the windows of luxury shops were smashed as groups of young people carrying stolen designer goods attempted to evade the heavy police presence.
Police said the protesters were "very mobile" young people. More than 80 arrests were made in Marseille alone, according to the interior ministry.
Looting and clashes between hooded protesters and police also occurred in parts of Grenoble, Saint-Etienne, Caen, the French island of Reunion and Lyon, with rioters setting cars ablaze and aiming fireworks at police.
Buses and trams in France were cancelled after several were destroyed in recent days, and the sale of large fireworks and inflammable liquids has been banned.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne also announced the cancellation of large-scale events across the country, which included two concerts this weekend by popular singer Mylene Farmer at the Stade de France venue.
Protesters run from launched tear gas canisters during a demonstration in Caen, north-western France. /Lou Benoist/AFP
Macron demands parental intervention
The killing of Nahel has revived longstanding anger about racist policing in France's low-income and multi-ethnic suburbs.
The teen's mother, Mounia, said Thursday that the 38-year-old officer who was detained and charged with voluntary manslaughter, "saw an Arab face, a little kid, and wanted to take his life".
Macron, who initially denounced the killing as "unforgivable", also denounced what he claimed was an "unacceptable exploitation of a death of an adolescent", promising to work with social networks to curb "copycat violence".
He also demanded parents take responsibility for the rioters, one-third of whom were "young or very young."
Britain and other European countries have updated their travel advice to warn tourists to stay away from areas affected by the rioting.
"Our hotel members have suffered a wave of cancellations of reservations in all the territories affected by the damage and clashes," said chef Thierry Marx, president of the main association for hotel and catering industry employers.
Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday