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Posted on 11/07/2005 4:38:50 AM PST by alnitak
A night of rioting in France has left 1,408 vehicles burnt out and resulted in 395 arrests - the highest tolls yet in 11 nights of unrest.
Ten policemen were injured by shots and stones when they confronted 200 rioters in the Paris suburb of Grigny, with two policemen seriously hurt.
President Jacques Chirac has said restoring order is his top priority.
French media report that a man in a coma after an attack on Friday could be the first fatality of the unrest.
Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, 61, was reportedly struck by a hooded man in the street after he and a neighbour went to inspect damage to bins near their apartment block in the town of Stains, in the Seine-Saint-Denis region outside Paris.
His widow has been received by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
Appeal to Muslims
Muslim leaders of African and Arab communities have also issued a fatwa, or religious order, against the riots.
Map of main flashpoints
"It is strictly forbidden for any Muslim... to take part in any action that strikes blindly at private or public property or that could threaten the lives of others," the fatwa by the Union of Islamic Organisations in France said.
French riots in pictures
Hundreds of cars were set on fire in different towns on Sunday night, and police had to use tear gas to disperse a club-wielding mob in Toulouse.
Unrest has gripped areas with large African and Arab communities since the deaths of two youths in the rundown Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, who were accidentally electrocuted at an electricity sub-station after reportedly fleeing police.
Mr Sarkozy's oft-cited description of urban vandals as "rabble" (racaille) a few days before the riots began is said by many to have fuelled tensions.
Reports of a police tear gas grenade hitting a mosque during the riots further inflamed feelings.
Despite the controversy over Mr Sarkozy's remarks, a CSA opinion poll published in Le Parisien at the weekend showed him with a nationwide approval rating of 57%.
Police under attack
The two police officers were injured by gunfire in what police described as an "ambush" in Grigny late on Sunday.
France has been set ablaze by the embers of a racial resentment that the Villepin government has been incapable of extinguishing
Spanish daily ABC
European press on riots Send us your views
They were taken to hospital with wounds to the leg and throat.
Police chiefs said their men were being deliberately confronted by gangs apparently intent on fighting them.
"They really shot at officers, said local police commander Bernard Franio.
"This is real, serious violence - not like the previous nights. I'm very worried because this is mounting."
In the southern city of Toulouse, police fired tear gas grenades to push back rioters and violent attacks were also reported in Marseille, Saint-Etienne and Lille.
Of the 1,408 vehicles burnt, 982 were attacked outside the Paris region as the "shock wave" from the Paris region reached the provinces, in the words of national police chief Michel Gaudin.
"The law must have the last word," Mr Chirac told reporters in his first public address on the violence on Sunday.
He promised arrest, trials and punishment for perpetrators but added that "respect for all, justice and equal opportunity," were needed to end the unrest.
Mr Chirac had faced criticism from opposition politicians for not speaking publicly about the unrest since it began on 27 October.
Yeah, I remember 20 years ago like it was yesterday. For two weeks, I had nothing to eat but split pea soup. It made me feel like burning up cars. /sarc
Soon the world we know what we've all long suspected; a group of uneducated, untrained heathens could defeat the french militarily with ease.
FNC: One of the men beaten in France has died.
Well, isn't that special. I guess if these groups specifically target the property, the persons, then this is just fine . . .
From the Daily Telegraph (note church arson):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/07/uparis.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/07/ixportaltop.html
More than 30 police have been injured and 1,400 vehicles set alight in the 11th night of violence in France.
About 2,300 extra officers have been drafted in
The unrest spread throughout the country in the worst night of rioting so far, with 395 people detained. A police union spokesman called recent events 'the worst since the Second World War'.
In Grigny, south of Paris, police were lured into a housing estate and attacked with pellet guns, rocks and petrol bombs. About 10 officers were injured, two seriously with pellets in the neck and legs.
Youths seized a bus in Saint-Etienne in central France, ordering passengers off and setting fire to the vehicle. The driver and one passenger were hurt.
In the eastern city of Strasbourg, rioters threw Molotov cocktails into a primary school, while in Toulouse a blazing car was pushed into a metro entrance.
At Lens in the north, a firebomb was thrown at a church. In nearby Lille, about 50 cars were torched and a Belgian television reporter was beaten up.
The violence began on October 27 with the accidental electrocution of two youths fleeing police outside Paris.
Many of those taking part in the riots are French-born citizens of Arab or African origin, and are complaining of racial discrimination.
Action Police CFTC, France's police union, urged the government to impose a curfew on the trouble-hit areas and call in the army to control the rioters.
"Nothing seems to be able to stop the civil war that spreads a bit more every day across the whole country," they said in a statement.
"The events we're living through now are without precedent since the end of the Second World War."
President Jacques Chirac has vowed to defeat the rioters and restore order to the country.
In his first public comments since the unrest began, Mr Chirac said the state was determined "to be stronger than those who want to sow violence or fear".
Some 2,300 extra officers have already been drafted in to quell the riots.
One of France's largest Muslim organisations reacted to official suggestions that Islamist militants might be organising some of the protests by issuing a fatwa against the unrest.
' "The law must have the last word," Mr Chirac told reporters in his first public address on the violence on Sunday. '
Like Food-for-Oil? Like the Baath Party of Iraq? Tell me another, Chi-rat.
It's all how you phrase your fatwa, I guess.
His widow? Jumping the gun, it appears.
"'It is strictly forbidden for any Muslim... to take part in any action that strikes blindly at private or public property or that could threaten the lives of others,' the fatwa by the Union of Islamic Organisations in France said."
There is always double-talk in any muslim "condemnation" of the actions of muslims: They are not striking blindly!
We will be seeing the same rioting here if we do not snuff out this terrorist organization that masquerades as a religion.
LOL, that's a good one!
Hey, frogsters, could you help us barbaric Americans with our racism?
"In Grigny, south of Paris, police were lured into a housing estate and attacked with pellet guns, rocks and petrol bombs."
Thank you for clearing something up for me. Someone insisted that they were using 'shotguns' instead of pellet guns. And while the Malitov Cocktails are lethal weapons in their own right, putting things in perspective, it appears this riot doesn't have much lethal intent against police-- yet.
Dear France,
It is obvious to terrorists that since you did not
join the War On Terror, they have found a new home.
Your country.
Enjoy.
RBA
You beat me to it! I picked that out instantly. These scum need to be shipped back home now!
Last night on Drudge the Washington Times reports the rioters may have access to heavy arms now including grenades. Here's an excerpt:
PARIS -- Police officers, exhausted and dispirited after 11 nights of street battles, say their mainly young African and Arab adversaries have access to sophisticated weapons including grenades and could soon begin using them.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20051107-122439-9658r.htm
OK, now she is his widow.
Yes, it is. Take careful note of the use of weasel-words:
It is strictly forbidden for any Muslim... to take part in any action that strikes blindly at private or public property or that could threaten the lives of others
So "striking blindly" is bad. Striking with intent and directed purpose, on the other hand...
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