The French authorities on Sunday positioned a ban on all non-official fireworks shows for the normal Bastille Day celebrations on July 14, a mirrored image of the simmering tensions over the protests sparked by the killing of a teen of North African descent by a police officer on June 27.

Pyrotechnic shows have lengthy been an integral a part of France’s nationwide vacation, however indignant crowds in latest weeks have used bottle rockets and different fireworks in clashes with police in cities throughout the nation.

The loss of life of Nahel Merzouk, 17, throughout a site visitors cease within the Paris suburb of Nanterre set off practically per week of nightly protests. Although the unrest had died down in latest days, a brand new allegation of police brutality in an arrest over the weekend threatened to reignite the tensions.

The authorities decree launched Sunday forbids the “sale, possession, transport and use of pyrotechnical articles and fireworks” by way of July 15 — the day after the vacation is noticed.

Authorized public fireworks reveals will nonetheless be allowed.

Horizontally launched fireworks, which might journey as much as 60 mph, have change into a weapon of selections for a lot of protesters.

“Local officials I have met are concerned about the possibility of more incidents during the national holiday,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Bourne informed the newspaper Le Parisien.

The authorities is ready to take “massive measures to protect the French” throughout the upcoming vacation weekend, she added.

The authorities of President Emmanuel Macron has been shaken by the riots, which have revived longstanding complaints of police abuse and the therapy of France’s sizable minority communities.

The gendarme who fired his gun at Merzouk throughout the site visitors cease is dealing with expenses of voluntary murder.

But the protests, lots of which focused municipal buildings and public websites similar to faculties and neighborhood facilities throughout the nation, have additionally sparked a backlash.

Although there have been no direct deaths within the clashes, practically 4,000 individuals have been arrested since June 27, automobiles and buildings have been burned and hundreds of retailers looted. Some 800 cops and firefighters have additionally been injured throughout the protests.

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