Hundreds of French police forces have been deployed to a town near Paris as clashes continue over the death of a young man in police custody earlier this week. Some 270 police officers were dispatched to the town of Beaumont-sur-Oise, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the capital, Paris, on Saturday after several cars were burnt overnight there.

Adama Traore, a 24-year-old of the town, was reported to have died of a heart attack in police custody last Tuesday. He had been detained for interfering in the arrest of his brother in an extortion case, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

The death triggered a wave of nightly clashes between angry protesters and police in his town and nearby suburbs. Traore’s relatives insist that the victim was fit and healthy at the time of the arrest, and that police beat him to death.

Presstv