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Firefighter killed trying to put out underground car park blaze amid Paris riots

03 July 2023 , 08:36
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Firefighters extinguish a bus burned during clashes between protesters and riot police (Image: MOHAMMED BADRA/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
Firefighters extinguish a bus burned during clashes between protesters and riot police (Image: MOHAMMED BADRA/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

A young firefighter has died in Paris while trying to extinguish a blaze in an underground car park as the violence in France continues to rage.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the 24-year-old died in Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris, despite the efforts of his colleagues to save his life.

"All my sincere and saddened condolences to his family, loved ones, comrades and to the BSPP [Paris Fire Brigade]," Mr Darmanin said.

The nation has been gripped by unrest since the police shot dead a 17-year-old boy, who was buried on Sunday.

According to the Interior Ministry, there were 157 arrests over Sunday night. This was down from a peak of 3,880 arrests during the night of June 30.

Astonishing pics show firefighters save woman from 3rd floor of blazing building qhiukiuiqkzprwAstonishing pics show firefighters save woman from 3rd floor of blazing building
Firefighter killed trying to put out underground car park blaze amid Paris riotsThe disturbances began on Tuesday after police shot dead a 17-year-old boy of Algerian descent (Urman Lionel/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock)

French President Emmanuel Macron was meeting Monday with mayors of 220 towns from across the country. Across France, 34 buildings were attacked overnight — many of them linked to the government — along with 297 vehicles.

The grandmother of the Algerian teenager, named as Nahel, has pleaded for rioters to stop after five nights of unrest.

The woman identified only as Nadia said in a telephone interview with French news broadcaster BFM TV: "Don’t break windows, buses... schools. We want to calm things down."

She said she was angry at the officer who killed her grandson but not at the police in general.

French President Emmanuel Macron has blamed social media for the spread of the unrest and called on parents to take responsibility for their teenagers.

The boy's mother has claimed the killing was racially motivated.

Firefighter killed trying to put out underground car park blaze amid Paris riotsPolice personnel detain suspects on a street in Nice, south-eastern France (AFP via Getty Images)

"He [the police officer] saw a little Arab-looking kid. He wanted to take his life," she told French media.

A suburban Paris mayor, Vincent Jeanbrun, said his wife and one of his children were injured in an attack while they slept.

Jeanbrun, of the conservative opposition Republicans party, said the attack represented a new stage of "horror and ignominy" in the unrest.

"At 1:30am, as I was in the town hall just like the two previous nights, people ram-raided my home before starting a fire to torch my house, where my wife and my two young children were sleeping", Jeanbrun wrote on Twitter.

Three people and dog die in horror early-morning hotel fireThree people and dog die in horror early-morning hotel fire

He continued: "While attempting to shield them and flee the attackers, my wife and one of my children got hurt."

Public prosecutor Stephane Hardouin said he had opened an investigation into the attempted murder following the attack on Jeanbrun's home.

Hardouin said that a preliminary investigation suggested that the car was meant to ram the house and set it ablaze.

Rachel Hagan

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