Macron Asks Ministers to Restore Order in France - Reports

PARIS (Sputnik) - French President Emmanuel Macron, during a meeting with ministers on Sunday night, called on them to do everything possible to restore order in France amid ongoing unrest, local TV reported.

Macron met with French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and several other ministers at the Elysee Palace on Sunday evening to discuss the situation in the country.

A local TV channel cited participants in the meeting who said that Macron had asked the prime minister, the interior minister and the justice minister to continue doing everything possible to restore order in France.

Macron also said that the French government must continue supporting law enforcement officers and members of special services who have been mobilized over the past five days.

A source told the channel that Macron was planning to receive more than 220 mayors of the communes affected by the riots at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Friday that more than 45,000 law enforcement officers, including special units, were involved in the fight against riots in France, while over 300 police officers and gendarmes were wounded in the first three days of unrest in the country.

France Info reported citing a government source on Saturday that French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne had urged all cabinet ministers to return to Paris and stay there amid ongoing unrest in the country.

On Friday, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the French government to "seriously address the deep problems of racism and discrimination in law enforcement" after a 17-year-old was killed by police in France.

Nahel M. was shot dead in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday morning after he refused to comply with police orders during a traffic stop. The officer who pulled the trigger on the teenager has been charged with voluntary manslaughter and is in custody.

The fatal police shooting sparked riots across the country. Violent protesters have clashed with police and set fire to public buildings and vehicles. Hundreds of protesters have been detained.

Also on Friday night, seven police officers sustained shooting wounds in the French city of Lyon. The city mayor, Gregory Doucet, asked for police reinforcements on Saturday. Right-wing activists have marched through the streets of the French city of Lyon engulfed in riots, media report.

Livre Noir reported on Sunday that a total of about 50 radicals marched through Lyon with their faces covered, shouting nationalist slogans.

Videos circulating on social media show law enforcement officers dispersing the radicals gathered near the mayoral office using tear gas.