France bans fireworks ahead of Bastille Day after police shooting riots

The sale and use of fireworks have been banned in France until July 15 – the day after Bastille Day – following violent riots around the country.

Unrest was sparked late last month after 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk was shot dead by a police officer in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

More than 3,000 people were arrested in the week that followed, while hundreds of buildings and vehicles were damaged.

While the violence has since subsided, the French government has announced that individuals will not be able to buy or use fireworks until the Bastille Day festivities are over ‘to prevent the risk of serious disturbances to public order’.

The ban does not apply to official displays organised by local authorities and professionals.

Speaking to the press last week, French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said the government was ‘very mobilized to ensure the security of July 13 and 14’, which she described as ‘two sensitive days’.

Even outside the context of the recent riots, celebrations on Bastille Day have previously been disrupted by violent unrest.

In 2021, police in Paris fired tear gas at protesters demonstrating against the introduction of new coronavirus restrictions on July 14.

However, tensions are at a particular high after some of the most significant urban violence in France for almost 20 years.

President Emmanuel Macron described Nahel’s death as ‘unexplainable and inexcusable’, but also condemned the riots as ‘totally unjustifiable’.

The police officer who killed Nahel was subsequently charged with voluntary homicide by a person in authority.

Bastille Day commemorates the Storming of the Bastille in 1789, a landmark event in the early days of the French Revolution.

Festivities are traditionally centred around a military parade along the Champs-Élysées in Paris, which is attended by the president.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.