Shops in central Paris were looted and a woman was killed in a high-speed car crash in southern France in what the government slammed Friday as “unacceptable” unrest following a key victory for Algeria’s national football team.
Fans of the Algerian team flocked to the Champs-Elysees in central Paris and the Vieux Port area in Marseille late Thursday after their side defeated Ivory Coast on penalties to reach the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Two stores near the Champs-Elysees in Paris were looted, including a motorcycle shop where people took helmets, gloves and even bikes, an AFP journalist said.
Police used tear gas to disperse thousands of people who had gathered in Paris. The same measures were used to scatter crowds in Marseille.
“The damage and incidents last night on the sidelines of the celebrations… are unacceptable,” Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said in a tweet.
“I hail the actions of the security forces in Paris and across the country to maintain order and contain the excesses,” he added.
In total, 43 people were detained.
In the southern city of Montpellier, an Algerian football supporter celebrating his team’s win lost control of his car and ran over a family, killing a woman and seriously injuring her baby, a security official said.
The 21-year-old man was driving at high speed in the Mosson neighbourhood, the official said. The driver was taken into police custody.
