'If you listened to everything, you'd never travel', Paris tourists unscathed by riots

Aboard the capital's traditional double-decker tour buses, one American couple took pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame cathedral, all smiles. They said they did not change their plan to visit Paris on news of the unrest.

"It's unfortunate it (unrest) happened, it's a bad thing," Derol said. "But we decide still to come, we had confidence in (French President Emmanuel) Macron," Miriam added.

Rioting across France was less intense overnight, the interior ministry said on Sunday, as tens of thousands of police were deployed following the funeral of a teenager of North African descent whose shooting by police has sparked nationwide unrest.

The government poured 45,000 police onto the streets to try to keep a lid on a fifth night of unrest after Saturday's funeral of Nahel, a 17-year-old with Algerian and Moroccan parents, who was shot during a traffic stop on Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

Since then rioters have torched cars and looted stores but also targeted town halls, police stations and schools - buildings that represent the French state.

Jacqueline Baughmend, a tourist from Chicago, compared the French unrest to US protests following the police killing of African-American George Floyd.

"We've kind of been through it, so now, watching France go through their own version of it is interesting," Baughmend said.

The interior ministry said 719 people were arrested on Saturday (July 1) night, fewer than the 1,311 the previous night and 875 on Thursday (June 29) night.

But Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said it's too early to relax security measures or talk of a lowering of the intensity of violence.

"We have to be extremely cautious, we remain very present (in the field)," Nunez said.

Nahel's death has fed longstanding complaints of police violence and systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies from rights groups and within the low-income, racially mixed suburbs that ring major cities in France. Authorities deny that.

'Stop it!': Grandmother of France police shooting victim pleads for end to riots

The grandmother of the boy killed by police during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb on Sunday said she wanted the nationwide rioting triggered by his death to end, after a fifth night of unrest.

Identified as Nadia by French media, she said the rioters were using 17-year-old Nahel's death as an excuse to cause havoc and that the family wanted calm.

"The people who are breaking things, I tell them: Stop it, stop it. They're doing this with Nahel as a pretext - no, people should stop!" Nadia told BFM TV in an audio interview.

"Nahel is dead. My daughter is lost ... she no longer has a life," Nadia added, her voice cracking.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the latest overnight riots had been less intense after 45,000 police were deployed following Saturday's funeral of Nahel in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

Since he was shot on Tuesday (June 27), rioters have torched cars and looted stores, but also targeted state institutions - town halls and police stations. The home of the mayor of L'Hay-les-Roses near Paris was attacked while his wife and children were asleep inside.

French mayor's home ram raided by rioters, goes on walkabout

The mayor of the Paris suburb whose home was ram-raided and torched by rioters, injuring his wife and one of his two children, went on a walk-about in his constituency on Sunday when residents gave their support.

The residence of L'Hay-les-Roses Mayor, Vincent Jeanbrun, was attacked in the early hours of the morning on Sunday when his wife and children aged 5 and 7, were asleep inside during the unrest that has gripped the country following the shooting of 17-year-old Nahel M.

Jeanbrun said his family were injured as they fled the building through the backyard in the early hours.

Thanking the residents for their support Jeanbrun told one of them that he had never dreamed it would ever come to this.

The mayor, from the conservative Les Republicains party, was not at home but at the town hall during the incident. The target of attack for several nights since the shooting, that building was protected by barbed wire and barricades.

The local prosecutor told reporters that an investigation into attempted murder had been opened. No suspects have been arrested.

Also there to support him were the French prime minister Elisabeth Borne and Paris region president Valerie Pecresse. Pecresse and Jeanbrun visited a local market that was torched on Friday night. He had also called on President Emmanuel Macron to introduce a state of emergency.

Reuters