Rioting over the killing of a young black man by police erupted for the fourth consecutive night in the western French city of Nantes early Saturday despite an officer being charged with manslaughter.

Groups of youths from housing estates torched vehicles and hurled petrol bombs at police, who responded with tear gas.

A building was set on fire, but firefighters quickly brought the blaze under control. The clashes, which broke out after midnight, ended around dawn.

The unrest exposed tensions in deprived urban areas of France, where minorities complain of heavy-handed policing, and raised fears that clashes could spread.

The policeman who shot Aboubakar Fofana, 22, was charged on Friday night after abandoning his claim that he fired because the man was reversing at high speed towards a group of police and children.

The officer’s lawyer, Laurent-Franck Lienard, said: “He recognises that he made a statement that did not conform with the truth.”