Violence spreads, police face gunfire
More than 80 officers injured after three nights of riots; Sarkozy calls emergency meeting
VILLIERS-LE-BEL, FRANCE -- A thousand police were sent to this suburb just north of Paris yesterday in hopes of minimizing a third night of rioting as authorities struggled to keep violence from spreading in a stern test for new President Nicolas Sarkozy.
These riots have already been far more concentrated than those that swept France in 2005. Bands of young people set more cars and garbage bins on fire yesterday in Villiers-le-Bel, the Paris suburb where the latest trouble first erupted, and a grocery store was torched in a nearby town, the regional government said. In the south, 10 cars and a library went up in flames in Toulouse, police reported, and in an ominous turn of events, rioters have shot at police. Eighteen people were detained, the regional government said.
However, an official in Villiers-le-Bel said last night that the situation was much calmer than in the previous two nights.
Mr. Sarkozy called an emergency ministers meeting for this morning, when he returns from an official visit to China.
The 2005 disturbances were the worst civil unrest in France in 40 years and many blamed the harsh rhetoric of Mr. Sarkozy, who as interior minister referred to the rioters as "scum," for stoking the violence. This time, Mr. Sarkozy, the President, has called for calm, and the lower-key response of the government suggested it wanted to avoid exacerbating tensions in France's deprived suburbs.
There have been some efforts by Mr. Sarkozy's government to improve the situation in Villiers-le-Bel and other poor suburbs with a high immigrant population. It has passed an equal-opportunities law to try to combat discrimination and increase employment for young people, and named a secretary of state, Fadela Amara, dedicated to urban policy. She is to release a new plan for the poor suburbs in January.
But many community activists say it will likely take years of effort to improve the situation.
"It's good to have a plan, but these are young people who have no structure and are entirely outside of society," said Hasid Bouchefa, a director of the non-profit organization Forum Social des Quartiers Populaires, which tries to help unemployed youth find work. "They have nothing left to lose."
Police say many of the rioters were in their late teens or early 20s, belonged to organized gangs, and were armed with guns purchased on the black market. But they also included boys as young as 13, and there were reports that 10-year-olds had been used as spotters to help keep one step ahead of police.
Tempers exploded on Sunday evening when two teenagers collided with a police car while riding a moped and were killed. Rumours that the police had been chasing the teens and then left them dying on the ground before ambulances arrived spread through the neighbourhood. Within hours, mobs were setting garbage cans and cars on fire. More than 80 police were injured during Monday night's clashes, some of them seriously.
An investigating judge said yesterday the rumours were not true, but the news was unlikely to calm youth in the neighbourhood. Patrick Dexet, who lives just a block from where the accident occurred, said young people hold a deep-seated resentment toward the police because they believe they are too repressive.
"Even when we do know the truth about this case, no one will believe it because it involves the police," he said.
That resentment was palpable on the street yesterday afternoon and seemed to extend to anyone associated with authority. About a dozen people, several of them children and one who appeared to be about four years old, surrounded a journalist speaking to residents and began shouting "Journalist! Liar! Get out of town!"
iolence spreads, police face gunfire
More than 80 officers injured after three nights of riots; Sarkozy calls emergency meeting
VILLIERS-LE-BEL, FRANCE -- A thousand police were sent to this suburb just north of Paris yesterday in hopes of minimizing a third night of rioting as authorities struggled to keep violence from spreading in a stern test for new President Nicolas Sarkozy.
These riots have already been far more concentrated than those that swept France in 2005. Bands of young people set more cars and garbage bins on fire yesterday in Villiers-le-Bel, the Paris suburb where the latest trouble first erupted, and a grocery store was torched in a nearby town, the regional government said. In the south, 10 cars and a library went up in flames in Toulouse, police reported, and in an ominous turn of events, rioters have shot at police. Eighteen people were detained, the regional government said.
However, an official in Villiers-le-Bel said last night that the situation was much calmer than in the previous two nights.
Mr. Sarkozy called an emergency ministers meeting for this morning, when he returns from an official visit to China.
The 2005 disturbances were the worst civil unrest in France in 40 years and many blamed the harsh rhetoric of Mr. Sarkozy, who as interior minister referred to the rioters as "scum," for stoking the violence. This time, Mr. Sarkozy, the President, has called for calm, and the lower-key response of the government suggested it wanted to avoid exacerbating tensions in France's deprived suburbs.
There have been some efforts by Mr. Sarkozy's government to improve the situation in Villiers-le-Bel and other poor suburbs with a high immigrant population. It has passed an equal-opportunities law to try to combat discrimination and increase employment for young people, and named a secretary of state, Fadela Amara, dedicated to urban policy. She is to release a new plan for the poor suburbs in January.
But many community activists say it will likely take years of effort to improve the situation.
"It's good to have a plan, but these are young people who have no structure and are entirely outside of society," said Hasid Bouchefa, a director of the non-profit organization Forum Social des Quartiers Populaires, which tries to help unemployed youth find work. "They have nothing left to lose."
Police say many of the rioters were in their late teens or early 20s, belonged to organized gangs, and were armed with guns purchased on the black market. But they also included boys as young as 13, and there were reports that 10-year-olds had been used as spotters to help keep one step ahead of police.
Tempers exploded on Sunday evening when two teenagers collided with a police car while riding a moped and were killed. Rumours that the police had been chasing the teens and then left them dying on the ground before ambulances arrived spread through the neighbourhood. Within hours, mobs were setting garbage cans and cars on fire. More than 80 police were injured during Monday night's clashes, some of them seriously.
An investigating judge said yesterday the rumours were not true, but the news was unlikely to calm youth in the neighbourhood. Patrick Dexet, who lives just a block from where the accident occurred, said young people hold a deep-seated resentment toward the police because they believe they are too repressive.
"Even when we do know the truth about this case, no one will believe it because it involves the police,"he said.
That resentment was palpable on the street yesterday afternoon and seemed to extend to anyone associated with authority. About a dozen people, several of them children and one who appeared to be about four years old, surrounded a journalist speaking to residents and began shouting
"Journalist! Liar! Get out of town!"
 BBC News | French riots continue to spread CNN International - Armed masked police patrol the streets of Villiers-le-Bel Tuesday night. "So that things are very clear: What has happened is absolutely unacceptable," ... Youths Riot for 3rd Night Outside Paris Rampages north of Paris continue on third night of fury Police battle rioters in France |
Nicolas Sarkozy appeals for calm after new Times Online, UK - In what observers described as a battle for control of a roundabout in the centre of Villiers-le-Bel, a town with many poor housing estates, ... Arson, arrests in continuing unrest in Paris suburbs (Roundup) Riots break out for second night in Paris Police attacked after deaths of teenagers near Paris |
64 officers injured in Paris riots: French police Times of India, India - The injuries followed rioting in Villiers-le-Bel and the nearby towns of Sarcelles and Garges-les-Gonesses, a police source said. ... |
Sarkozy crisis talks after third night of riots Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - By Henry Samuel in Villiers-le-Bel and Richard Holt Nicolas Sarkozy is to hold crisis talks with ministers after three nights of rioting in Paris has left ... |
Edmonton Sun, Canada -
By NICOLAS GARRIGA, AP VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France -- Youths rampaged for a third night in the tough suburbs north of Paris and violence spread to a southern ...
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