9 arrested after violent protest in Paris

Nine persons were arrested after violent clashes erupted overnight between angry locals and police over the death of an arrested man in Paris, an official said on Thursday.

"Nine people were arrested on charges of taking part in armed gathering, throwing Molotov cocktails at police and attempts to set a blaze in the city hall of Beaumont," Xinhua news agency quoted Jean-Simon Merandat, director of Val d'Oise prefecture as saying.

Merandat added that peace was restored following a second night of violent confrontation which involved 200 locals and 180 police officers in Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise in north of Paris.

Fifteen cars and dozens of public garbage bins were set ablaze while petrol bombs were hurled at a nursery school and a town hall, he added.

Violence sparked on Tuesday after a 24-year-old man died while being arrested by police.

Though the investigation is underway to determine the cause of death, police said that the man suffered a heart problem while he was being taken away but the family accuses officers for hitting him during his transportation to police station, according to local reports.

--IANS

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