they GOTTA run out of cars to burn eventually...
Posted on 11/03/2005 7:41:13 PM PST by workerbee
LE BLANC-MESNIL, France, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Young rioters set fire to at least 50 vehicles in an eighth night of unrest in the impoverished suburbs of northeastern Paris as exasperated local officials criticised politicking by national leaders.
Rioting erupted again late on Thursday despite hopes that festivities ending the fasting month of Ramadan would calm rioters, many of them Muslims of North African origin protesting against race bias they say keeps them in a second-class status.
About 1,000 riot police patrolled poor areas but gangs of hooded youths roamed the streets threatening to strike again later in the night.
"It seems a bit calmer than previous nights but about 50 vehicles have been torched since nightfall," said a police spokesman in the Seine Saint Denis area.
French media also reported attacks on a school and a bus in northern Paris and on vehicles in two poor areas to the west of the capital. Several cars were also reported to gave been set ablaze in Dijon, the first city outside Paris to be hit.
On Thursday evening, local officials complained loudly about dithering and politicking among national officials after Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin briefed them about an "action plan for the suburbs" he aimed to present later this month.
"Many of us told him this isn't the time for an umpteenth plan," said Jean-Christophe Lagarde, mayor of Drancy in the riot-hit region. "All we need is one death and I think it will get out of control."
Manuel Valls, mayor of Evry south of the capital, said: "We're afraid that what's happening in Seine Saint Denis will spread. We have to give these people a message of hope."
LAW AND ORDER "ABSOLUTE PRIORITY"
Rioting among young men of North African and black African origin -- mostly locally-born citizens who feel cheated by France's official promises of liberty, equality and fraternity -- began last week after two teenagers of African origin died while fleeing the police.
It escalated on Wednesday evening when police and fire crews were shot at with live ammunition on three occasions.
Villepin and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, whose bitter political rivalry has overshadowed the government's reaction, teamed up in the French Senate on Thursday to announce that restoring order was their "absolute priority".
Villepin indirectly blamed the riots on gangs he said terrorised residents and sought to keep police out of their neighbourhoods.
"I refuse to accept that organised gangs are laying down the law in certain neighbourhoods, I refuse to accept that crime networks and drug traffickers profit from this disorder, I refuse to accept that the strong intimidate the weak," he said.
"Law and order will have the last word," he told senators.
Sarkozy seconded him, saying: "There is only one political line, that set by the prime minister."
Sarkozy, accused by opponents of inflaming passions with his outspoken attacks on the "scum" behind the violence, said on Thursday that 143 people had been detained in the past week for rioting.
The unrest in France comes despite Sarkozy's anti-crime drive following President Jacques Chirac's re-election in 2002, which was won largely on law and order issues.
His two-pronged approach -- a crackdown on rioters combined with proposals to promote minorities and help fund mosques -- has provoked rearguard attacks from rivals in the conservative government who accuse him of stoking extremism.
Villepin has struggled to end cabinet squabbling over how to handle disturbances that forced him to cancel a trip to Canada and Sarkozy to call off a visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Moscow warned Russians against visiting Paris suburbs.
The ruling Union for a Popular Majority is split between a pro-Sarkozy camp and rivals who support Chirac and Villepin, handing the opposition Socialists a rare chance to attack the conservatives on their much-vaunted record on crime.
"Many of us told him this isn't the time for an umpteenth plan," said Jean-Christophe Lagarde, mayor of Drancy in the riot-hit region. "All we need is one death and I think it will get out of control."
Q U A G M I R E!
I don't know who to pull for in this one
30 deaths and it will be back under control
---Rioting erupted again late on Thursday despite hopes that festivities ending the fasting month of Ramadan would calm rioters, many of them Muslims of North African origin protesting against race bias they say keeps them in a second-class status.---
These riots will go a long way in boosting their status and job prospects, I'm sure.
If it were me, my message of hope would go like this: "OK, folks, I hope you like being deported. Have fun living in Algeria. Bye, now."
Paris suburbs relatively calm after week of rioting by angry youth
"It seems a bit calmer than previous nights but about 50 vehicles have been torched since nightfall,...
Fifty vehicles is CALMER?!?!?!
Says who? Reuters? It sounds like another case of editorializing in a news article. Why should anybody trust Reuters?
I was present at the Watts riots in Los Angeles in the sixties. There was only one thing that stopped it -- ABSOLUTE FORCE.
I am not sure if the French know what that means...
French Intifada!
Probably take more but 200 should have the vermin back in their rat holes.
they GOTTA run out of cars to burn eventually...
"All we need is one death and I think it will get out of control."
Like it's under control now...
Serves the French right... La Douchebags.
Multiculturalism sounds all warm and uplifting when discussed by the elites at cocktail parties in Manhattan, but in reality...
Hey, you creeps... listen up...
Fact of Life #6 - You are where you are today based on decisions you have made in the past. And it doesn't matter where you are on the economic ladder.
Fact of Life #14 - If you don't like it in your country of choice, you have the right to leave. Don't tell me you don't have the money. So many of you somehow manage to come up with the money to go to Afganistan and Pakistan for training, then return back 'home' for the sake of blowing it up.
And one more thing for you loonies bent on spreading fundamentalist Islam, read my tagline!
It's Islam, stupid. Riots are the festivities.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.