French President Emmanuel Macron in meeting of mayors says 'peak' of riots has passed

French President Emmanuel Macron during a meeting of mayors on Tuesday said the peak of riots had passed. However, he added he was still cautious to call an end to the violence.

"Is it a permanent return to calm? I will be cautious, but the peak that we've seen in previous days has passed," Macron said, according to a report by news agency AFP.

Macron had met with hundreds of French officials on Tuesday to get to the depth of the reason behind the country's descent into violence after a teenager was shot dead by the police in the Paris suburb of Nanterre for fleeing a traffic check.

The meeting with more than 300 mayors came after authorities reported a much calmer night across the country.

"We all want a lasting, republican order," Macron said. "That's the absolute priority."

At the gathering of mayors, Macron was hoping to "start the painstaking, long-term work needed to understand the deeper reasons that led to these events", an official at the president's office said.

Macron pitched the idea of handing out quick-fire fines to the parents of children caught for destruction or theft.

"With the first crime, we need to find a way of sanctioning the families financially and easily," he said, according to comments reported by the Parisien newspaper.

Mayors call for anti-riot rally amid relative calm

Around 150 people were arrested overnight across France in connection with the violent protests that broke out since the killing of a 17-year-old teenager by a police officer at a traffic stop, said the interior ministry, on Monday (July 3). Meanwhile, France’s mayors called on public and elected officials to hold a rally against the nearly week-long riots. This comes amid the first signs of the unrest easing emerge with lower arrests and violence witnessed.

The government deployed up to 45,000 police officers onto the streets across the country overnight on Sunday to quell the unrest. The unrest follows the fatal shooting of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager of North African descent, on Tuesday, by a police officer at a traffic stop.

In a statement on Monday, an association of the country’s mayors said that “everywhere in France is the scene of serious unrest, which targets republican symbols with extreme violence.”

This also comes a day after an attack on conservative mayor Vincent Jeanbrun of L'Hay-les-Roses’ home outside Paris.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE