In pictures: France burns

OPTICS A car burns as a slogan is seen on a wall which reads in French "Justice for Nahel" | Geoffrey Van Der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images Violent unrest following the death of a teen killed by police has spread to Paris suburbs and elsewhere.

More than 600 people were arrested in France on Thursday night as riots spread across the country. The violence erupted after a 17-year-old boy, named as Nahel M., was shot dead by police earlier this week during a traffic stop in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris.

Despite the deployment of some 40,000 police officers, authorities struggled to control the clashes in major cities and smaller urban areas alike. Public buildings and transportation systems were the main targets, but some districts saw shops looted, too.

Burning vehicles lie in a street of the Cite Pablo Picasso area of Nanterre | Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP via Getty Images

A firefighter looks on as vehicles burn following riots in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre | Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP via Getty Images

A pedestrian walks past placards reading “justice for Nahel and for all the others killed by police” in Marseille | Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images

Fireworks explode during protests in Nanterre, west of Paris | Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP via Getty Images

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne speaks with a resident in front of the burnt facade of the Hotel du ville in Garges-les-Gonesse, north of Paris, following riots two days after a 17-year-old boy was shot in the chest by police | Stefano Rellandini/AFP via Getty Images