Posted on 11/04/2005 12:32:54 AM PST by Southack
PARIS RIOTS SPREADING 4.11.2005. 18:34:50
Rioting around Paris has worsened with gangs attacking police and firefighters in defiance of a government vow to crackdown on the violence, which has plagued the capital for over a week.
Fresh rioting broke out on the outskirts of Paris in the city's poorest and mainly immigrant suburbs for the eighth straight night on Thursday.
Around 1,300 police officers were mobilised in the north-eastern suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, while more than 30 people were arrested in the area.
Buses, fire engines and police were stoned and five policemen were reported injured.
Police said more than 160 cars were torched overnight in the Paris region and 33 in the provinces, a day after around 315 vehicles were burnt in the citys Ile-de-France region.
One of the worst incidents took place at Neuilly-sur-Marne where police vans came under fire from pellet pistols, but nobody was reported hurt.
A fire was started in a primary school in Stains, as police were targeted by a group of 30 to 40 people near a synagogue.
Paris firemen were called to fight a blaze at a carpet warehouse in Aulnay-sous-Bois in Seine-Saint-Denis.
Traffic was halted on a suburban commuter line which links Paris to Charles de Gaulle airport after stone-throwing rioters attacked two trains.
The clashes have gained territory every night since they began last Thursday, exposing what critics say is a failure of the government to address the problems of low-income, high-immigration suburbs where crime and gangs run rampant.
In a worrying sign similar rampages broke out elsewhere in France.
Police said several cars in the eastern city of Dijon were set alight, while similar attacks took place in the western Seine-Maritime region and the Bouches-du-Rhone in the south of the country.
Government defiant
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who cancelled a trip to Canada to tackle the crisis, said the violence was "unacceptable".
He vowed that authorities would not give in to the violence and would make restoring order their "absolute top priority".
"I will not allow organised gangs to make the law in the suburbs," he said.
President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday called for calm, warning that an escalation would be "dangerous".
The riots were sparked last week by the accidental electrocution of two teenagers who had hidden in an electrical sub-station to escape a police identity check in Clichy-sous-Bois.
A preliminary report released by the interior ministry on Thursday appeared to exonerate police of any direct role in the teenagers' deaths.
But as the unrest continued the opposition Socialist Party and many in the suburbs themselves blamed the hardline policies of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy for fanning the violence.
Mr Sarkozy, who on Thursday said the total number of people arrested was over 140, vowed a "war without mercy" on crime and rebellious youths in the suburbs just before the rampages erupted.
The conservative minister, who has ambitions of running for president in two years, has drawn criticism for his tough rhetoric, especially for referring to delinquents as "rabble".
On Thursday, he claimed that recent rioting "was not spontaneous, it was perfectly organised we are looking into by whom and how."
Low income suburbs
France has 751 neighbourhoods officially classed as severely disadvantaged, housing a total of five million people, around eight percent of the population.
The recent violence has exposed simmering discontent in those suburbs where African and Muslim immigrants and their French-born children are trapped by poverty, unemployment, racial discrimination, crime and poor education and housing.
Unemployment is these areas is often twice the national rate of 10 percent, and per capita incomes 40 percent below the national average.
Thursday night was the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a night traditionally marked by feasts and family get-togethers.
French blogs as well as Iranian President Ahmadijine are apparently calling for all Muslims in France to riot in 700 towns throughout France tomorrow night (Friday) now that Ramadan has ended (Thursday).
Hmmm
AND IRANIAN...did anyone catch that?
Iranian President Ahmadijine are apparently calling for all Muslims in France to riot
He just needs a warm water port where children can play on the beach...
They should lock and load live rounds and kill as many as possible . Deport the survivors and their entire families....
They will soon get bored of rioting. Terrorist attacks will be next on the table in France. Give it time.
See...it was the Jews all along.
More than 500 cars have been torched in France in 2 days...that's 100 times more cars burned in France than in Iraq in the same timeframe...and the police and liberal news media are calling Thursday in France "calm" compared to Wednesday while the blogs are calling it calm compared to what's coming up tomorrow (Friday Nov 4) night.
You wouldn't happen to have a link to the blogs or to the statement by the Iranian President, would you? It would make wonderful ammunition against those who insist that the riots were caused by poverty.
Will the Euro-Dhimmis finally open their eyes? How long until they beg the US for aid?
It is truly amazing that this has been allowed to continue this long.
It can't be appeased. It has to be taken down in no uncertain terms. Weakness will only incourage them to push further.
They've got Paris surrounded! What happens to France's nukes if they surrender?
France should think about organizing an army. Oh forget it. That would take too long. "Chirac, call your buddy Kofi". Oh forget it. He only wants to go where he won't get hurt. Okay, raise the white flag, the symbol of France.
they are really not interested in nukes, they know that if they use nukes, the us will obliterate them completely. besides, why use an escalation of weaponry when their tactics seem to be working just fine? france is gone, if not quite yet in hard terms, in spiritual terms, she is gone. muslims are now calling the tune. as an aside, i really have to congratulate them on such impressive tactics, seemingly born of nothing, yet they bring the west to its knees with just a bunch of yutes. amazing.
You bet...I wonder if Chirac is now finally figuring out that Iran is truly part of the axis of evil. I would love for him to eat major crow on his lame attitude toward terror and fanatical muslims. Everything the French have done in recent years to oppose America is now coming back to haunt them in spades.
I saw some news clips of the Paris Police working the riots. When they weren't taking wine and brie breaks, they were intimidating the mooslim vermin with 'non-lethal' weapons.
Seems to be working real well. (/sarc)
Great question! I always wondered why France, so "pacifist and so forgiving and understanding and anti-war" would require nukes. I only hope they are secured better than ours seem to be.
This is what the Left wants in the USA. For some insane reason, they want the Islamo-fascists to win, not caring that they would be first against the wall.
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.