Rioters Crash into the Mayor's House in France and Burn, His Wife and Children are Attacked by Fireworks while Fleeing

Riots due to Nahel's shooting. (Wikimedia Commons/Toufic-de-Planoise)

JAKARTA - Rioters stormed the home of a mayor on the outskirts of Paris, France, burning cars and throwing fireworks at his wife and young children as they fled, on the fifth night of nationwide rioting over the police shooting of a teenager of North African descent.

Vincent Jeanbrun, 39, mayor of the southern suburb of L'Hay-les-Roses, was at city hall when his home was attacked while his wife Melanie and their children were asleep.

The assailants drove their vehicle to the house on the outskirts of the city but were stopped by a low wall surrounding the outside terrace, the local public prosecutor said. The vehicle was then set on fire.

When Jeanbrun's wife and children, aged 5 and 7, fled through the backyard, they were subjected to fireworks.

Jeanbrun told Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne his wife had undergone surgery on a broken leg and had to undergo three months of rehabilitation.

"While trying to protect them and flee from the attackers, my wife and one of my children were injured," the mayor said, as quoted by Reuters July 3.

Meanwhile, local prosecutors told reporters an investigation into attempted murder had been opened into the incident, although no suspects had been arrested.

Earlier, the town hall of Jeanbrun had been the target of attacks for several nights since Tuesday's shooting, resulting in barbed wire and barricades.

While walking in the hours after the incident, Jeanbrun met local well-wishers and passed by the city's market which had been destroyed during the riots.

"Stay strong mayor. We are with you," said a man to Jeanburn who looked emotional.

"I didn't think we would experience something like this," the mayor said to other residents who were praying for his wife.

"This is very disgusting," he replied.

It is known that France was rocked by riots in a number of areas, following the death of Nahel Marzouk last Tuesday near the Nanterre-Préfecture RER station, during a police check carried out by two police motorbike riders in the rental car he was driving.

One of the officers opened fire on the young man at close range, fatally wounding him in the chest. The shooter justified his actions, judging that Nahel refused to comply with his request. However, an amateur video contradicting his confession shocked the government and sparked the worst riots France has seen in recent years, Euronews reported.

The 38-year-old police officer who fired the fatal shot was charged with intentional homicide and jailed last Thursday.

Nahel was buried Saturday in the Mont-Valérien cemetery in Nanterre in the presence of her mother and grandmother and several hundred other people.

In the aftermath of the shooting, young people living in working-class neighborhoods across France vent their anger on the police and the state every night, clashing with the police, ransacking public buildings, and looting shops.

Some 45.000 police were deployed again late Sunday, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmnin, to prevent rioters who had burned cars, looted shops, and targeted city hall and police stations, including the mayor's house in a suburb of Paris, which was attacked when the wife and the children were asleep in the house.

French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a state visit to Germany to deal with the crisis. He is scheduled to meet with parliamentary leaders on Monday and with more than 220 mayors from cities affected by the unrest on Tuesday.