Posted on 11/03/2005 5:59:42 AM PST by Pikamax
Shots fired at police, fire crews shot at rioting in Paris suburbs spreads.
Jamey Keaten Canadian Press
Thursday, November 03, 2005
AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France (AP) - France's government faced mounting pressure Thursday as suburban unrest took on dangerous new momentum, with shots fired at police and fire crews as they battled youths who torched car dealerships, public buses and a school.
Four shots were fired at police and firemen in four different towns, said Jean-Francois Cordet, the top government official for the troubled Seine-Saint-Denis region north of Paris where the week of violence has been concentrated.
No one was injured in the shooting, officials said.
Rioters set fire to 315 cars in the Paris area overnight, half of them in Seine-Saint-Denis, where nine people were injured, officials said.
The heavy presence of armed riot police did little to deter violence as youths rampaged for a seventh consecutive night. Acts ranging from clashes with police to torching of vehicles were reported in at least 10 Paris-region towns.
The riots have highlighted the division between France's big cities and their poor suburbs. Frustration has been simmering in housing projects to the north and northeast of Paris, heavily populated by North African and Muslim immigrants and their French-born children who struggle with high unemployment, crime, poverty and a lack of opportunity.
In the tough northeastern suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois, gangs of youths torched a Renault car dealership and incinerated at least a dozen cars, a supermarket and a local gymnasium.
In nearby La Courneuve, two shots were fired at riot police, said Cordet. A third shot targeted firefighters in Noisy-le-Sec, and a forth was aimed at a fire crew in Saint-Denis, home to the Stade de France stadium that hosted the final of the 1998 soccer World Cup.
Bands of youths forced a team of France-2 television reporters out of their car in the suburb of Le Blanc Mesnil, then flipped the vehicle and set it on fire.
Unrest spilled over to public housing projects in the area, where police engaged in a cat-mouse game with youths, who would break car windows and toss petrol-bombs inside before running away.
Police in the Seine-Saint-Denis region detained 23 rioters Wednesday night and have taken a total of 98 people into custody since the rioting started, Cordet said.
France's government was in crisis mode, with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who postponed a visit to Canada this week in order to deal with the crisis, calling a string of emergency meetings with government officials throughout the day Thursday.
One was a working lunch with Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been accused of inflaming the crisis with his tough talk and police tactics. Sarkozy has called the rioters "scum" and vowed to "clean out" troubled suburbs, language that some say further alienated their residents.
Minister of Social Cohesion Jean-Louis Borloo said the government had to react "firmly" but added that France must also acknowledge its failure to have dealt with anger simmering in poor suburbs for decades.
"We cannot hide the truth: that for 30 years we have not done enough," he told France-2 television.
The unrest has laid bare France's failure to fully integrate its millions of immigrants, many of whom are trapped in the poverty and grinding unemployment of low-cost, sometimes decrepit, suburban housing projects sometimes controlled by gangs dealing drugs and stolen goods and where police seldom venture.
The rioting began last Thursday in the northeastern suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois after the accidental deaths of the two teenagers who electrocuted when they hid in a power substation because they thought police were chasing them. A third was injured.
Officials have said police were not pursuing the boys, aged 15 and 17.
If they don't get this under control and within the next day, they will be looking at Lebanon as a vacation. Jihadi's will be looking at this as an opportunity. All it takes it a few shoulder fired missles at Orly while this is going on and all hell breaks loose.
You know, WWI started with just a shot that destabilized the dicey balance.
and if the army comes and cracks down on these unintegrated muslims, watch for the muslims to escalate big time. france knows this very well. france could become the focal point of muslim ire, now how cool would that be? islam has this battle won, hands down. islam can call in recruits well versed in doing serious damage to france. but them again, do i really care what happens to france anyways? MAIS NON. not one mention of the rop in france attacking synagogues or jews themselves quite yet? or has the french govt agreed to round up their jews and transport them to the mosque by an agreed upon time?
Marked for later read
Frustration has been simmering in housing projects to the south and southeast of Los Angeles, heavily populated by Mexican and Central American immigrants and their American-born children
From T. Dalyrimple's comments (which someone on FR posted a while back this am, another thread...but well worth the read if someone would post the link...sadly, I'm a computer lunkhead), about the disaffected Muslim youth population, there's no peaceful solution. And how long before Al Qaeda or OBL decide it's time to send in homicidal bombers? That's coming before long, and how easy it is for them to travel freely in the EU. No papers, just hop a train and ride.
The Louvre, anything that embodies French culture and pride will be targeted very soon.
And let's not forget the hoisting of that perpetual rallying flag of "Western-attrocities-towards-Muslims-throughout-the-Ages"
Police in the Seine-Saint-Denis region detained 23 rioters Wednesday night and have taken a total of 98 people into custody since the rioting started,
The ACLU and Turbin Durbin are going to be all over the French for this.
They would have surrendered already, but they don't know who to hand their surrender to.
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They've already surrendered. It just wasn't accepted by the other side.
It's not just the muzzies - all tyrants seem to jump the gun. Imagine if Hitler had a waited just a few more years, or the Japanese hadn't bombed Pearl when they did, or more recently, AQ had held off on 9/11 until they had somthing really nasty up their sleeve.
Shut down the power, water and block all the exit routes.
Sarkozy is France's last chance, unless God sends another Jeanne d'Arc
These guys really take the cake. Now "scum" is enough for these buffoons to start a riot?
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