1,350 vehicles, 234 buildings torched: Provisional ministry

NANTERRE: Nearly 1,000 people were detained for violence and looting across as France prepared for additional protests ahead of the burial of the boy slain by an officer during a traffic check on Saturday.

Despite the government's assertions that violence had "lessened" compared to other nights, the interior ministry recorded 994 arrests made around the country overnight.

The government also disclosed that 79 police officers and gendarmes were hurt.

Since the demonstrations started on Tuesday after Nahel, a 17-year-old, was killed by a police bullet, this is more than any other night.

Additionally, according to preliminary ministry data provided early on Saturday, 1,350 cars, 234 structures, and 2,560 incidents of fires started in public places were set ablaze.

Despite France sending out 45,000 cops, the most on any given night since the protests began, supported by light armoured vehicles and elite police groups, the skirmishes persisted.

In Marseille, Lyon, and Grenoble, gangs of frequently-hooded rioters pillaged stores, and they were powerless to stop it.

Despite heavy rain falling on Paris and its environs since early Saturday morning, rioting broke out there as well, resulting in close to half of all arrests worldwide, or 406, a police source said AFP.

In order to quell the unrest caused by Nahel's passing, Darmanin had already declared a "exceptional" deployment of police and gendarmes. Nahel will be laid to rest on Saturday in the Paris district of Nanterre, where he was born and raised.

Nine persons had been detained for having Molotov cocktails and petrol canisters, and dozens of police trucks were stationed close to the entrance of Nanterre's Vieux Pont neighbourhood, the scene of the worst violence.

The appeals for a halt to the fighting were backed by the French national football team.

The squad released a statement on social media, with captain and star forward for Paris Saint-Germain Kylian Mbappe posting it. "The time of violence must give way to that of mourning, dialogue, and reconstruction," the team wrote.