Authorities in France detained more than 1300 people on Saturday night, on the fifth day of the social unrest.
The government has ordered the deployment of around 45 thousand police officers across the whole country, but even that has proven insufficient to stop the enraged protesters. The demonstrators and the police clashed in downtown Marseilles, where the most intense street fights took place.
The riots began after a policeman killed a 17-year-old boy known as Nahel M., an Algerian national, who resisted a traffic stop on Tuesday morning in Nanterre, west of Paris.
People blame the chaos engulfing French cities on migrants, who have set things ablaze and looted stores, even firing their weapons.
Comments such as the following are circulating on social media:
“France decided to defund the police and let in millions of migrants. Now there is chaos everywhere and no store is safe!
Migrants are screaming Allahu Akbar (Allah is great) as they destroy France. [They are] lynching police officers who are doing their duty
another user writes on Twitter.
A video shows as a Frenchman is dragged out of his truck by the aggressive migrants, who then start kicking him.
Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki published a video about the calm in Polish cities, calling attention to the importance of the defense of EU borders.
The video contrasts France, scorched by protesters, with the calm of Polish cities like Krakow and Warsaw. The timing is not coincidental, as EU member states blame Poland and Hungary for rejecting the new migration pact, which would allow for letting in more migrants.
