Paris, 1 July 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Riots over police brutality hit French cities again on Friday for the fourth night in a row and nearly 1,000 people were arrested, despite a massive security presence and the closing of transport lines.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told reporters on Saturday morning that despite incidents of looting, vandalism and clashes with police, the violence was of "much less intensity" than the previous night.

According to the authorities, some 150 police officers were injured during the riots Friday night.

Across France, about 45,000 police officers were deployed overnight, including special units.

To quell the violence, Darmanin called for a 9 pm halt to bus and tram service throughout the country until further notice.

The unrest, triggered by Tuesday's fatal shooting of a 17-year-old driver by police during a traffic check, has also been reported in French overseas territories, including French Guiana in South America and the Caribbean island of Martinique.

French President Emmanuel Macron called an emergency meeting on Friday. Contrary to what some expected, Macron did not declare a state of emergency but appealed to parents to keep their teenage children from participating in violent protests.

On Thursday, prosecutors opened a formal manslaughter investigation into the police officer accused of the fatal shooting of the teen driver in Nanterre, a working-class suburb of Paris. The officer is in custody, the public prosecutor's office in Nanterre said.

The boy is to be buried on Saturday, according to Nanterre Mayor Patrick Jarry.

Photo: EPA