IP - Local officials reported "unprecedented" waves of looting and violence in cities across the country overnight, including in Lyon, where Mayor Grégory Doucet appealed for police reinforcements to aid local gendarmes who were "overwhelmed" by the scale of the rioting.

Iran PressEurope: People took to the streets across France, setting cars alight, throwing stones and fireworks, and ransacking shops.

Despite the heavy presence of security forces, looting took place from Friday night in the cities of Lyon, Marseille, and Grenoble, with bands of often hooded rioters pillaging shops.

Crack police units and other security forces fanned out across the country to quell violence over the shooting, which took place during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb on Tuesday.

There was daylight looting Friday in the eastern city of Strasbourg, where rioters targeted an Apple Store and other shops.

Police used teargas in the southern city of Marseille after youths threw projectiles at police vehicles in the Vieux-Port district, which is popular with tourists.

Marseille mayor Benoit Payan called for troop reinforcements saying the "scenes of looting and violence are unacceptable."

More than 1,300 people were arrested, and 79 police officers were injured overnight Saturday as anti-racism protests surged across France for a fourth consecutive night.

The French Interior Ministry said 45,000 police and gendarmes backed by light armored vehicles were mobilized across the country as France reeled from the fallout of the shooting death of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, who was killed by police during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb on Tuesday.

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