Fewer than 160 people were arrested overnight in connection to riots that have hit cities across France as an uprising sparked by the police killing of a teenager of North African descent begins to calm. 

The comparatively lower number of arrests follows five nights of heavy riots, offering some relief to the government of Emmanuel Macron in its scrabble to regain control of the situation, just months after widespread protests over an unpopular pension reform.

The interior ministry said 157 people were arrested overnight, down from over 700 arrests the night before and over 1,300 on Friday night.

Three of the 45,000 police officers deployed overnight were injured, the ministry said, while at least 350 buildings and 300 vehicles were damaged.

A 24-year-old fireman died fighting a fire in an underground car park in the suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis north of the capital, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. 

Meanwhile, China's Consulate General in Marseille complained to France after a bus carrying a Chinese tour group in the southern city had its windows smashed leading to minor injuries, Beijing said on Sunday.

The grandmother of Nahel M, the 17-year old shot dead by police officer during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb, said on Sunday she wanted the nationwide rioting to end.

His death at the hands of French police has reignited longstanding anger over alleged discrimination, police violence and systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies from rights groups and minorities in France. 

Since Nahel was shot on Tuesday, rioters have burned cars, looted stores and targeted town halls and other properties – including the home of a mayor of the Paris suburb of l'Hay-les-Roses, which was ram-raided while his wife and children were asleep inside on Saturday.

"This is a real nightmare," Jeanbrun told BFM TV on Monday. "We have been going through a state of siege."

An association of France's mayors has since called on the public and elected officials to hold rallies opposing the protests. 

Gofundme for policeman raises $900k 

Despite outrage from politicians and Nahel's family alike, a collection for the policeman that shot the teenager had raised more than $920,000 on Monday morning.

Nearly 40,000 people made donations to the online fund set up on the website Gofundme.com by a far-right media commentator. The collection easily outstripped another one for the family of the dead 17-year-old.

Nahel's grandmother said she was "heartbroken" by the support shown for the police officer when she was asked about it on Sunday.

"He took the life of my grandson. This man must pay, the same as everyone," she told the BFM channel. "I have confidence in the justice system. I believe in justice."

Several politicians from the centrist ruling party and the left wing condemned the collection launched by far-right commentator Jean Messiha, who is close to anti-Islam politician Eric Zemmour.

Senior left-wing MP Mathilde Panot highlighted how a collection for a former boxer who had punched several police officers during "Yellow Vest" anti-government demonstrations in 2019 had been quickly closed by authorities.

"Killing a young North African, in France in 2023, can earn you a lot of money," she wrote.

The biggest individual donation was 3,000 euros for the policeman, named in French media as Florian M., who has been detained and charged with voluntary manslaughter.

In a video of the shooting, he can be seen with a colleague stopping a Mercedes which Nahel was driving without a licence in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday morning. The officer has his weapon drawn and shoots Nahel at point-blank range as the car drives off.

Another teenager in the car told media after that the officers also hit Nahel with the butts of their guns before firing and said one threatened to shoot the teenager in the head. 

'Understand in depth'

The protests have presented Macron with a fresh crisis, as the president had hoped to move on from widespread anger and protests over his recent move to raise France's retirement age.

Meeting key ministers late Sunday, Macron called for the start of "meticulous and longer-term work to understand in depth the reasons that led to these events," a presidential official said, asking not to be named.

He is set to meet the heads of the two chambers of parliament on Monday, and the mayors of more than 220 towns hit by the unrest on Tuesday, the Elysee said.

Macron postponed a state visit to Germany that had been scheduled to begin on Sunday in an indication of the gravity of the situation at home.

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