INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
TEHRAN - Violent protests over police discrimination in France enters its fifth consecutive night.France endured a fifth night of violence
with hundreds of arrests made following a day when mourners attended the funeral of a teenage boy whose killing by police sparked nationwide
Nahel Merzouk, a teenager of North African descent, was shot dead at point-blank range during a traffic stop captured on video.Despite
massive deployment of police forces, armored vehicles, air surveillance, curfews, and bans on demonstrations to end the unrest, more than
dispatched to major cities, Special Forces have also spread out nationwide to quell the violence.On Saturday, the Interior Ministry revealed
that French police had arrested more than 1,300 people on the fourth night of unrest
throwing stones and fireworks and once again setting fire to trash bins.The flashpoint cities of Marseille and Lyon saw police fighting
youths around city centers late into the night.Footage has also emerged of mass rallies of a peaceful nature with protesters from all walks
of society.The French capital and its suburbs, where some 7,000 officers were out in force, 126 people had been arrested by 1.30 am.Scores
of police vans have also been positioned at the entrance to the town of Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris, where the unrest began on
police against ethnic-minority communities in France's low-income suburbs.After chairing a second emergency meeting with senior officials to
discuss the crisis gripping the nation, President Emmanuel Macron criticized social media platforms for provoking what he branded as
cooperate with the government to identify wanted suspects.Macron has also canceled a state visit to France's closest European ally, Germany,
Grenoble and Marseille, which have witnessed war-like scenes
But all the security measures have fallen short of bringing back calm
because there are a lot of lies".The eyewitness posted a video on social media detailing how an officer put a gun to Nahel's head and said,
both officers struck Nahel with the butts of their weapons, causing him to release his foot from the brake pedal, which led the car to move
pain, he trembled," he says
I thought they might shoot me
So I ran."A prosecutor says the officer's use of a weapon was not legally justified.While the Interior Minister has said that the level of
violence has been "unacceptable", the government has declared that all options are on the table, but it has not yet reached the point of
declaring a state of emergency.Asked on French media whether the government could declare a state of emergency, Darmanin said, "Quite
simply, we're not ruling out any hypothesis and we'll see after tonight what the President of the Republic chooses."President Macron has
been wary of calling a state of emergency, trying his best to balance the highly sensitive situation in a country where there have already
been mass protests and strikes over his controversial pension measures as well as inflation hurting millions of homes.According to Darmanin,
France witnessed a quieter night than before, which he attributed to "the resolute action of the security forces"
abroad, with France hosting a major sports tournament in the autumn and then the Paris Olympic Games in summer 2024.Recently, France has
or revised their travel advice, warning tourists to stay away from areas affected by the violence.The French tourism industry has also
expressed concern over the unrest, with hotels and restaurants facing cancellations."Our hotel members have suffered a wave of cancellations
of reservations in all the territories affected by the damage and clashes," the main association for hotel and catering industry employers
suburbs.On Friday, the UN Human Rights office said the killing of a teen from North African descent was "a moment for the country to
seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement."A foreign ministry statement dismissed the
allegation as "totally unfounded".Events on the ground, over the decades, show there has been widespread police violence and discrimination
has a more frequent tendency to resort to violence against minority groups, something that has been repeatedly highlighted by international
In November 2005, then French President Jacques Chirac, unable to quell nearly two weeks of civil unrest after two teenagers of African
