A tense France bans sale of Bastille Day fireworks

The French government on Sunday placed a ban on all non-official fireworks displays for the traditional Bastille Day celebrations on July 14, a reflection of the simmering tensions over the protests sparked by the killing of a teenager of North African descent by a police officer on June 27.

Pyrotechnic displays have long been an integral part of France’s national holiday, but angry crowds in recent weeks have used bottle rockets and other fireworks in clashes with police in cities across the country.

The death of Nahel Merzouk, 17, during a traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre set off nearly a week of nightly protests. Although the unrest had died down in recent days, a new allegation of police brutality in an arrest over the weekend threatened to reignite the tensions.

The government decree released Sunday forbids the “sale, possession, transport and use of pyrotechnical articles and fireworks” through July 15 — the day after the holiday is observed.

Authorized public fireworks shows will still be allowed.

Horizontally launched fireworks, which can travel up to 60 mph, have become a weapon of choices for many protesters.

“Local officials I have met are concerned about the possibility of more incidents during the national holiday,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Bourne told the newspaper Le Parisien.

The government is prepared to take “massive measures to protect the French” during the upcoming holiday weekend, she added.

The government of President Emmanuel Macron has been shaken by the riots, which have revived longstanding complaints of police abuse and the treatment of France’s sizable minority communities.

The gendarme who fired his gun at Merzouk during the traffic stop is facing charges of voluntary homicide.

But the protests, many of which targeted municipal buildings and public sites such as schools and community centers across the country, have also sparked a backlash.

Although there have been no direct deaths in the clashes, nearly 4,000 people have been arrested since June 27, cars and buildings have been burned and thousands of shops looted. Some 800 police officers and firefighters have also been injured during the protests.