Posted on 11/03/2005 5:19:45 AM PST by Brilliant
BOBIGNY, France (Reuters) - Rioters shot at police and fire crews in the worst night in a week of violence in poor Paris suburbs, as France's conservative government struggled to respond to the unrest.
Youths rampaged in nine poor suburbs north and east of Paris, home to North African and black African minorities frustrated at their failure to get jobs or recognition in French society, leaving a trail of destruction behind them.
"It's a dramatic situation. It is very serious and we fear that the events could even get worse tonight," said Francis Masanet, secretary general of the UNSA police trade union.
Prefect Jean-Francois Cordet, the government's top official in the Seine-Saint-Denis region, confirmed rounds had been fired at police and fire crews in three separate incidents.
"Four live bullets were fired. Two shots were fired at La Courneuve against police. One shot was fired at Noisy-le-Sec against fire crews, and one shot was fired against fire crew in Saint-Denis," he told a news conference.
Cordet did not say what sort of weapon had been fired but media said local police recovered shotgun cartridges from the scene at La Courneuve.
No one was reported as hurt in the shootings, which marked an escalation in the level of violence that left 177 charred vehicles and damaged a primary school and shopping center.
Cordet said four police officers and two fire fighters were hurt, including one who was burned on the face by a Molotov cocktail. Twenty-nine people were detained and 23 remained in custody, he added.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin discussed the crisis with elected officials from the riot struck areas, as the government struggled to respond to the violence and the opposition taunted the conservative's much-vaunted crime record.
He will hold a working lunch with Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, his potential rival to lead the right in 2007 presidential elections, in a display of unity after government squabbling over how to respond to the violence.
ZERO TOLERANCE
Governments across Europe have been confronted with violence in deprived inner city areas, and the unrest in France comes despite Sarkozy's anti-crime drive led in the wake of President Jacques Chirac re-election in 2002, won on law and order issues.
The week of unrest first broke out in the Clichy-sous-Bois suburb after two teenagers were electrocuted while apparently fleeing police during a local disturbance. The deaths touched off pent up frustrations in the area and quickly spread to other underprivileged dormitory towns that ring the Paris area.
"Because of this, we will not go to school tomorrow. Look at the pollution, we can't even breathe and I'm asthmatic," one resident in the Blanc-Mesnil area told Reuters television after a seventh straight night of unrest in the Paris region.
Sarkozy, whose attacks on the "scum" behind urban violence have prompted the opposition to say he has enflamed passions, visited the operations room in the Bobigny suburb overnight, out of the sight of cameras that usually accompany him everywhere.
The minister, who has vowed "zero tolerance" on rioters, told lawmakers on Wednesday he had dispatched an extra 2,000 police and gendarmes to troubled areas.
"When I hear some people say that the presence of police can be provocative for some people, if the presence of police provokes some people, I know a lot of others who are delighted that the police and the gendarmes are in their area," he said.
A trade union representing policemen described the unrest as a "civil war" and called on Sarkozy to impose a curfew in the affected areas to ensure violence did not spiral out of control.
The day after Chirac called for dialogue and for calmer minds to prevail, Social Cohesion Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said people should not develop a one-sided image of the suburbs.
"One must not think for one second that this is the life of these neighborhoods," Borloo told France 2 television. "They are an integral part of our country. It is in these neighborhoods that most companies are being founded."
"They are an integral part of our country. It is in these neighborhoods that most companies are being founded."
I don't think the French get it yet.
Maybe they should ban firearms...oh, never mind.
Again, the word "muslim" is omitted when describing the French riots. Lauren Green did refer to them as African muslims on Fox & Friends 1st this morning.
BRING BACK THE GERMANS!
Could it be the pollution from all those BURNING CARS?????
I am sorry to say I do feel a little schadenfreude over these riots. I am so sick of hearing about how much more enlightened and inclusive Europe (meaning France and Germany) is than the U.S. Or how much better they manage their economies.
One can only hope that events like this will stun them out of their sleep so that they can get on the ride side of this economic and ideological battle.
Did Lincoln impose a curfew and, more to the point, did the Confederate soldiers abide by it?
"Okay boys, time to put down your rifles and head to your tents, it's 5 p.m. and we don't want to be in violation of the curfew," Longstreet famously told his men at Gettysburg.
A must read on the topic.
http://www.city-journal.org/html/12_4_the_barbarians.html
"Youths rampaged in nine poor suburbs north and east of Paris, home to North African and black African minorities frustrated at their failure to get jobs or recognition in French society, leaving a trail of destruction behind them."
the four killers in britain had recognition, came from upper middle class homes, were treated with dignity and respect and they STILL killed. IMHO this is nothing more than an excuse for troublemakers to cause trouble.
Conserviative government? Am I missing something here?
Interesting that Reuters needed to tell us that it was a conservative government.
I think they get it just fine, but PC keeps them from telling the truth.
It may actually have the opposite effect. You get the impression from the articles we've seen that there is much criticism that the government has dealt with this in a way that is too heavy handed. Apparently, the socialists are taking political advantage, and are going to use this as an issue against the incumbent "conservative" government in the next election.
The whole thing illustrates the difference in the American and French psyches. When we are attacked, we open up with everything we've got. When they are attacked, they back off and go into hiding.
"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property; either as a child, a wife, or a concubine; must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome."
Sir Winston Churchill, from The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248 50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).
That curfew is what did the confederacy in.
Now I know why they backed out of Iraq...They can't handle the Arabs in their own back yard.
You mean... "Z Germuns"
"Conservative" is relative. Their conservatives are like our socialists.
Great............since the word MUSLIM is omitted from the entire piece, are we to assume it is just those wiley frenchmen rioting?
Political correctness will be the death of the civilized world.
Doesn't Arafat's young widow keep her place in Paris?
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