Posted on 11/04/2005 5:09:48 AM PST by rface
In Aulnay-sous-Bois, north-east of Paris, a fire engine hurtles through the evening streets. After a tour around the long, high blocks of flats, the vehicle stops in front of a school building.
Flames are leaping from the window frames. “The glass has been smashed in,” says resident André Sirguey, angrily. “They’ve set it on fire. Again!”
It is nine o’clock, and a new evening full of violence and arson has begun. Every evening since Thursday, 27 October, the suburbs of Paris have been struck by serious riots. Youths take to the streets, light fires and engage in battles with the police.
Raising hell Mr Sirguey’s neighbour comes to watch what is going on this evening. “The school?” he yells, while clouds of black smoke hang around the apartment complexes. “Have those jerks really set it on fire? My daughter goes there!” He begins to gesticulate wildly. “If you really think it’s necessary to raise hell, then set fire to the town hall, or a government building, but not a school!”
Suddenly, there’s the sound of shouting from the end of the street. André Sirguey and his neighbour walk over, and see a line of about 30 police officers, helmets on, shields in hand. They’ve sealed off the street. Opposite them: the banlieu youths; immigrant boys with their hoods pulled over their heads, who stand defiantly in the middle of the street, yelling “come on then! Come on if you dare!” at the riot squad facing them.
Battlefield Scarcely two minutes later, and the street has been transformed into a battlefield. The youths hurl petrol-bombs, bottles and rubbish at the police. A shrubbery is set on fire and a skip is pushed into the middle of the street. It is also set alight.
Paris riots The officers stay in their places, deflecting bottles with their shields. When the young men come too close with their petrol bombs, rubber bullets are fired. Tear gas is kept near to hand, but it isn’t used. Again, this evening, Aulnay-sous-Bois is the stage for what some people say is urban guerilla warfare and what the extreme right calls ethnic civil war.
The riots began in the north-east of Paris, but, in a couple of days spread to suburbs around the whole of the French capital. Within a week, more than 140 rioters had been arrested.
People getting angry In the mosque at Clichy-sous-Bois, a couple of kilometers south of Aulnay, its chairman Abderrahmane Bouhout wants to give his analysis of the situation. The visitors to the mosque, however, are getting angry. Why talk to the press? They only paint a negative picture of Muslims here, they snarl at him.
Later on, outside the mosque, Mr Bouhout tells his side of the story. “People in this area don’t have any work, the young people don’t have anything to do,” he says, as the mosque fills up with men for evening prayer. It only needed something to spark it off.” A youth-worker, who has also come to pray, adds his opinion. “It’s a timebomb here! They’ve created ghettos, shoving all the immigrants together and then just letting things run their course over the years. Now the bomb has exploded.”
In Aulnay-sous-Bois, the police and fire services withdraw at around 11 o’clock at night: they’re needed elsewhere. On the other side of the city, a police station and a garage have been set on fire. The burning skip stays on the street.
fortunately, the average Frenchman is starting to side with Sarkozy, who is very unFrench in his attitudes towards Muslim, and might be able to pull France out of its death spiral. Villainpin of course is the architect of France's US backstabbing antics at the UN.
My apologies, I'm mostly the product of public schools - but no excuses. I also happen to be of German ancestry, I'm mortified. Don't know what I could have been thinking, a French warrior of all things!
I do seem to now remember hearing that he was actually German, thanks.
My cousin and her husband went in July. I ate crow because we do not discuss politics. They had a good time and said the people were polite and friendly. I wanted to just scream at them but I have a feeling they are libs. I love my cousin’s thought! :)
They should begin using real bullets.
Look closely Freepers,because all the one talking about how the French are handling their immigrant problem are ignoring the fact that we have at least 3 times the number here in the US. The difference is that ours are Mexicans and are illegal. They have already stated that they will take back the southwest. So I figure that it well start in Mexifornia, proably LA, and they will give the same reasons. And our cities will burn just like Paris.
So far the wonderful brave people of the United States of America have done nothing. Just like the French. Tell me the difference. Show me where we arrest the illegals when we know where they are. Show me how we hold our elected officials accountable for what amounts to treason.
No, we have no right to say anything to anyone about how they let another culture take over their country.
How about spending some of that extra time to get some eduction and develop a skill that might make them attractive as an employee. This idea of entitlement is ridiculous.
Eventually, someone will aim for a soft spot. Probably make them even angrier, though.
Thing I like about the US is that if the police remained so ineffective for so long, the populace wouldn't. I don't believe that the people would tolerate it here.
They may have been born in France, but their hearts and loyalties are definately somewhere else.
It appears socialism does not solve all the problems of the world.
Those Frenchies, they got nukes!
They got tear gas too, but they are afraid to use it.
Apparently, there are similar, but not as noticeable problems in Denmark and elsewhere.
Of course, if they cover it like our MSM, you won't see the word, 'muslim' or 'islam' until the last paragraph, if at all.
they won't be afraid to use them!
It's the "Dirty Nightshirt Disease." Get them out of those filthy things and they will stop rioting and get jobs.
Do you think she was a Muslim woman?
Of course not!
So you don't think that there is even a small component of radical Islam fueling these riots?
Only to the extent that Islam is their banner in my opinion. In LA it was Rodney King.
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