Unrest in Nantes continues for a fourth night

REUTERS - A dozen vehicles were torched during riots in Nantes overnight on Friday (July 6), on the fourth consecutive night of violence in the city following the shooting of a young man during police checks. Earlier on Friday, the officer in question was put under formal investigation for manslaughter - a legal step towards a trial, though cases are still often dropped. When first questioned, the policeman said he had fired the shot because the man, Aboubakar Fofana, reversed his vehicle rapidly while trying to escape arrest, endangering the life of another police officer. During questioning, he changed his story saying he attempted to seize the wheel of the car and that his gun went off by mistake. On Friday, the local security official responsible for the Nantes area banned the sale of petrol and fireworks in the city to halt the fabrication of Molotov cocktails which had been used in the riots to torch buildings and vehicles on the streets. On Thursday night (July 5), 52 cars and eight buildings had been burnt during the disturbances, police said.