Metropolitan France 27–28 June Riots were reported in the evening of 27 June after videos of Merzouk's killing in Nanterre began to circulate. The urban unrest was concentrated in Nanterre, where rioters threw projectiles at police, let off fireworks, and set cars, bus shelters, rubbish bins, and a school on fire. Fires were also lit near the tracks of the
RER A. This rioting lasted until morning in Nanterre and spread to other areas in
Île-de-France, but was also reported in
Colmar and
Roubaix. By the end of the day, there were at least 20 police officers injured, 10 police cars damaged, and 31 arrested. 2,000 police officers and
gendarmes were deployed to deal with the outbreak of violence. On 28 June, riots were reported in
Amiens,
Dijon,
Lyon,
Lille,
Saint-Étienne,
Clermont-Ferrand, and
Strasbourg.
Fresnes Prison was also targeted by fireworks. In Toulouse, arson and clashes between 100 demonstrators and police in the Reynerie district resulted in 13 arrests and 20 vehicles burned. There were attacks reported on 27 national police stations (including 7 by arson), 4 gendarmerie barracks, 14 municipal police stations (including 10 by arson), 8 town halls, 6 schools, and 6 public buildings. Clashing and the burning of vehicles continued in Nanterre; police stations in Suresnes, Bois-Colombes, and Gennevilliers as well as municipal police stations in Meudon were attacked. Fires were set at media libraries, a construction machine in Clichy-sous-Bois, a school in
Puteaux, and a tram in
Clamart. Looting was reported in Colombes and town hall annexes were attacked in
Meudon and
Châtenay-Malabry. In total, more than 90 public buildings were attacked. In Paris, clashes erupted in the 18th and 19th
arrondissements, while fires were set in the 15th arrondissement. By evening, tensions erupted and the
BRI were sent to the scene. Buses and trams stopped running by evening to prevent damage, and several communes such as Clamart,
Compiègne, and
Savigny-le-Temple implemented curfews, with Savigny-le-Temple implementing a curfew only for minors. Rioters in
Marseille reportedly threw fireworks at police. In Nanterre, rioters vandalised the Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation, which remembers victims of the Holocaust in
Vichy France. A car reportedly crashed into a supermarket in
Nantes, after which it was vandalized and looted. There were also reports of the Clichy-sous-Bois town hall being lit on fire by rioters. There were 875 arrests nationally. On 30 June, the two police unions
Alliance Police nationale and the
UNSA union, which represent over 50 percent of French police forces, issued a statement declaring themselves "at war", calling the protestors “vermin” and “savage hordes” and threaten politicians openly: ″Tomorrow we will be in the resistance and the government should be aware of that.″ On 30 June, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin instructed
prefectures nationwide to order that all buses and trams stop service at 9 p.m., and to prohibit the sale and transport of fireworks mortars, petrol cans, and other dangerous substances. President
Emmanuel Macron canceled a scheduled trip to Germany to handle the issue, after being criticized for attending a concert during the ongoing crisis. After an unauthorized demonstration against police violence in front of the
Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) in
Angers had been dispersed with tear gas, the protestors were accosted by members of the banned far-right group Alvarium armed with baseball bats. The situation was quickly defused by police with only one injury requiring hospitalization. The group was involved in further conflict the following day, leading police to search their headquarters on 3 July. The rioting in Angers – which included looting of a tobacco shop, cars burned, police targeted with fireworks, and damage to the ground floor of a retirement home – led to 11 arrests according to the prefecture, including "some very young minors". When the owner of an LGBT bar, informed there was talk of targeting the bar on
Telegram, called police they suggested he close down quickly, which he did, for five days. In Marseille, the city's largest public library, the , sustained fire damage. Its glass façade was badly damaged, but rioters were unable to enter the building. Meanwhile, in Nanterre, a Holocaust memorial was defaced with anti-police slogans.
1–2 July On 1 July, the national police announced that a group of police officers had been targeted earlier in the morning by two individuals in
Vaulx-en-Velin, the first using a pellet gun, the second using a shotgun. Four officers were injured in the attacks, one of whom requiring surgery. In Marseille complaints were later filed against police for excessive use of violence that night. After Hedi Rouabah (21) was hit in the head by a
flash-ball, four policemen from the Marseille (BAC) dragged him into a dark corner, beat him up and left him for dead on the street. A video-surveillance camera captured the entire scene. Part of his skull had to be removed to save his life, and he lost his left eye. Mohamed Bendriss (27) died of a heart attack after being hit by a flash-ball. Hedi Rouabah and Abdelkarim Y. both said they were not involved in any rioting. On 2 July, the home of the mayor of
L'Haÿ-les-Roses,
Vincent Jeanbrun, was attacked in the suburbs south of Paris. After the
town hall had been targeted by rioters for several nights, the mayor had the building protected with barricades and barbed wire fencing and decided to spend the night there to monitor the security situation. At 1:30 a.m., attackers rammed a car into the front gate of Jeanbrun's home and attempted to set the car on fire. Fleeing the house, his wife suffered a broken leg and one of their two young children was injured. In Marseilles, a gun store was broken into by 30 youths, one of whom was arrested in possession of a stolen rifle. There were confirmed cases of rioters in Lyon firing
Kalashnikov assault rifles in the air, as well as rioters firing shotguns at security cameras in
Nîmes. Interior Minister Darmanin promised €20 million for the replacement of the 1000 videosurveillance cameras damaged during the rioting. On 4 July, prosecutors opened an investigation into the death of Mohamed Bendriss in Marseille. They said that the likely cause of death was a violent shock to the chest from a "flash-ball" projectile, which is used by riot police. Appearing before a
Senate commission on 5 July, the Interior Minister Darmanin declared the situation had returned to calm. He also indicated that it was inaccurate to characterize the rioters as being primarily of one ethnic group, saying "there were plenty of Kevins and Mattéos" involved in the suburban violence.
8 July On 8 July 2023, "around 100 political parties, labor unions and associations for police reform called for demonstrations across France", specifically demanding the abrogation of the 2017 law permitting police use of firearms for refusal to stop, as well as "an in-depth reform of the police, its intervention techniques and its arsenal." Olivier Véran, the spokesperson for the government, said that the signatories of the press release titled "Our country is mourning and angry" were "adding fuel to the fire". A memorial march for Adama Traoré which had originally been planned for north of Paris was banned by the prefecture, and this decision was upheld by a court "fearful of reigniting recent unrest sparked by the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel M."
10 July On 10 July, French authorities banned the sale of fireworks to reduce further protests.
Overseas France In
French Guiana, riots and protests erupted in the capital city,
Cayenne, beginning on 29 June, following those in Metropolitan France. Rioters set fires in several neighborhoods across the city, including the Cité Brutus, Mango, Novaparc, and Village Chinois districts. A 54-year-old government officer was killed by a stray bullet while standing on the balcony of his home in the Mont-Lucas district of Cayenne. Fires set by demonstrators were reported in the capital of
Saint-Denis, and the communes of
La Plaine-des-Palmistes,
Le Port,
La Possession,
Le Tampon,
Saint-Benoît,
Saint-Louis, and
Saint-Paul. (where there were no incidents), most of them preemptively. In
Switzerland, of the seven people arrested in Lausanne for breaking shop windows six were minors, two of whom were not Swiss citizens. In the
Canadian province of
Québec, a demonstration happened in
Montréal in front of the
Eaton Centre. == Damage to cultural sites ==