A night of violence erupted in the Paris suburb of Trappes on Friday, apparently sparked by a row over France’s controversial ban on face coverings.
Reports suggest upwards of 200 people clashed with security forces outside the town’s police station from around 9pm on Friday night, with the violence continuing into the early hours of Saturday morning.
Demonstrators were seen throwing projectiles at police, while a number of bins were set on fire. Several pictures and videos purporting to show the violence have been posted on social media sites such as YouTube and Twitter.
Around a dozen vans carrying riot police were deployed to the area, while a helicopter was dispatched to carry out surveillance of the town, located around 27km west of the centre of Paris.
Order was restored at around 3am when the crowd began to disperse, a police source told Reuters. » | France 24 | Saturday, July 20, 2013
