The level of physical violence and looting was significantly lower than on 17 October, when 2,600 people were arrested and as many as 3,000 shops pillaged in one of the worst nights of urban unrest in France’s recent history.
French officials have opened an investigation into the attempted murder of a police officer after a petrol bomb was thrown at French riot police during youth-led protests that ended in violence.
In other European cities, youths threw paving stones and firebombs at police and set fire to rubbish bins at the end of largely peaceful protests.
In Zürich, police used water cannon, teargas, and rubber bullets to disperse rioters attacking them with fireworks, bottles, and stones, according to Swiss media reports.
The inquiry follows widespread unrest across Europe that also prompted Germany’s interior minister to call for harsh penalties following clashes in multiple locations.
Injuries reportedly included second-degree burns in an incident captured on mobile phone video, shared on social media, and broadcast on French television.
In Paris, the prosecutor’s office said incendiary devices were thrown at a group of about 15 gendarmes and police officers and a formal investigation had been opened for “attempted murder of persons vested with public authority”.
In Portugal, police – some with dogs – cleared protest camps with baton charges, while security forces in Switzerland were attacked with paving stones.
The interior ministry said on Friday that 350 people had been hurt in the protests, including 200 police, with 269 minors arrested.