Posted on 11/05/2005 12:02:30 PM PST by syriacus
Surrounded by vacant lots, Gypsy shacks, and Alsatian farmland on the edge of Strasbourg, Neuhof sprawls in a maze of towers whose dreary design recalls a prison or a hospital.
Neuhof homeboys had pioneered the tradition of torching cars en masse. It started in the mid-'90s when vehicles burned during riots to avenge the deaths of two young people who stole a car, led police on a chase, and crashed. Car-burning grew into a New Year's Eve event here, and spread across France, Malik said.
France is full of tinderbox Neuhofs. Known as cites, some projects resemble isolated city-states with their own laws, language, and culture -- products of a clash between France's stratified, secular mainstream and immigrant diasporas that are predominantly Arab, African, and Muslim.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
How did they deal with it then?
Probably increased entitlements!
It seems they dealt with it by making the car-burnings/riots an annual event -- held every January 1st.
This can't be that hard: Surely somebody can teach them to say, "You f*** with my car and I'll kill you!" in French.
1998 article on riots posted in a newsgroup
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.activism.progressive/browse_frm/thread/4839ba6249255d79/fe323084c424b46a?lnk=st&q=france+car+burning&rnum=1&hl=en#fe323084c424b46a
Date: 1998/01/06
Subject: New Year's Riots In France
New Year Riots In France
Firemen Were Attacked By Rioters When They Tried To Put Out The
Flames
(BBC News) - Youths in the French city of Strasbourg - home
of the European Parliament - greeted the New Year with riots in
which more than 50 cars were gutted and two policemen injured.
Disaffected youths went on the rampage in underprivileged
suburbs of the city, which is close to the German border, on
Wednesday night. Home made bombs went off in a gymnasium, a
cultural centre, and a primary school, causing damage estimated
at up to 300,000 francs ($50,000), despite the presence of some
400 police and 200 firemen, some of whom were attacked as they
tried to put out the flames.
Local prefect Patrice Magnier said it was the worse violence
in the city since 1974. The rioters smashed 21 telephone kiosks
and 32 bus shelters and destroyed 53 cars and vans. Twelve
people, all between 13 and 20 years old, were arrested and taken
into custody for questioning in.
Departmental director for public safety, Jean-Luc Faivre,
said two police officers were slightly injured during the night
but there were no violent confrontations between the police and
young people. But one firefighter said young people had thrown
stones and firecrackers at emergency workers.
There were also scattered incidents of violence in the Paris
suburbs of Yvelines and Saint Denis during New Year celebrations.
French President Jacques Chirac, in his annual New Year
message, denounced growing violence in France and urged people to
help the police control the problem. He said: "There is too much
violence in our country, too much insecurity - in the
schools, on public transport. Every day new limits are broken
beyond which our society will disintegrate."
France Watches Warily As Violent Protests Mount Unemployment, Racial Issues Prompt DisorderBy Anne Swardson Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, January 3, 1998; Page A15
PARIS, Jan. 2—A spate of violent incidents in France in the last few weeks, including the burning of 62 cars by about 300 young people in Strasbourg ...
Two young men were killed by police in different cities late last month, prompting car burnings and other street protests. ...
...such violence nearly always raises concerns in France, a country known since 1789 for explosions of public anger that can overthrow governments, reverse policies and bring new faces to power. ...
Although French newspapers and television networks usually do not say so, the majority of the perpetrators are of Arab and North African extraction, residents of the grim and hopeless housing complexes that ring Paris and many other major French cities.
Guy on another thread said that what they do is have pairs on motor-scooters. Bust window, toss in lit molotov cocktail, drive off. Have organized groups doing this.
I would imagine they stake out the intended target area and have people pre-positioned in case the cops try to grab the car-torchers
Fox News just mentioned the scooters.. no details about how they were used.
I guess it'll be a semi-annual event now.
The advantage of the scooter or motorcycle is that it's fairly fast, allows one to zig-zag thru traffic jams, and can go where police cars can't. A police bike can go after them, so you pre-position your people along the biker's planned escape route, set to pull piano-wire across the road at neck-eight as soon as the scooter passes
LOL.
So the article quotes Chirac as saying "Every day new limits are broken beyond which our society will disintegrate."
BINGO!
Chirac's good at making predictions. Too bad he's failed to take steps at any point since 1998. Maybe he needs assertiveness training.
I ran that through a translator and here's what I got...
Veuillez brûler ma voiture. Merci svp
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