After cops shot and killed 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk in the Paris working-class suburb of Nanterre June 27, five nights of angry protests throughout France ensued. These protests targeted cars, buses, public transportation, city halls, cop stations, stores and schools, burning some of the targets

The stories of some defendants in these cases revealed how deprived are many youth in the working-class suburbs of major French cities. In one case, the defendant was arrested carrying a sack of peaches and apricots; he hadn’t eaten any fruit for a year.

Another defendant was arrested while he was asleep on the floor of a clothing store using some clothes for a pillow. He was homeless, sleeping under a bridge with just a mattress that had been waterlogged for weeks.