French Police Arrested 3,800 Rioters During Week of Unrest - Interior Minister

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Wednesday that nearly 3,800 people were detained during the weeklong unrest that gripped the country following the fatal police shooting of a teenager near Paris.

"All in all, nearly 3,800 people were arrested and thus removed from the streets, preventing them from doing harm and attacking public buildings and people," Darmanin said during a hearing at the parliament's legal commission.

The minister said police had analyzed street camera footage after the rioting to successfully identify and detain a further 345 suspects.

A third of those detained during the week of unrest were child rioters, Darmanin estimated. The average age of people taken into custody was 17-18 and 90% were French nationals. Some 60% of them had no previous police record.

The police killing of a 17-year-old boy of North African descent during a traffic stop in late June triggered a wave of violent protests that left hundreds of mayoral offices across the country damaged and thousands of public and private vehicles torched.

The violence reignited debates in France about systemic racism in the police force. The UN human rights commissioner urged France to address the deep issues of racism and discrimination permeating law enforcement.