The French government urged calm Monday after the killing of a teenage boy at a village dance party this month was followed up with violent demonstrations by the extreme right, reports FRANCE 24.
The death of the 16-year-old, named only as Thomas, has been seized upon by the far-right who have portrayed the killing as symbolic of increasingly insecure conditions in French society.
Olivier Veran, the spokesman of President Emmanuel Macron's centrist government, went to the village of Crépol in southeastern France where Thomas was killed in a bid to keep a lid on tensions.
The death of Thomas is "a tragedy that puts us at risk of a tipping-over of our society, if we don't rise to the occasion," he said.
"It's up to the judiciary to render justice. Not for the French public themselves," he warned, while acknowledging that the death of Thomas was the result of more than a "simple fight at a village dance".
Around 100 extreme-right activists travelled to the nearby town of Romans-sur-Isère on Saturday, a police source said, adding that they were looking for a fight with young people from the La Monnaie neighbourhood, where many suspect the perpetrators of the November 19 killing live.