Posted on 11/06/2005 7:49:08 AM PST by anonymoussierra
France has suffered its heaviest riot damage yet as warnings of tough prison sentences failed to deter arsonists. Police reported 1,295 vehicle burnings and made 312 arrests as unrest in African and Arab communities spread to Strasbourg, Toulouse and Nantes.
On the 10th consecutive night of riots, four cars were torched on Place de la Republique in central Paris along with others in the central 17th District.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy had warned of stiff jail sentences.
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In some areas of Paris, night buses were cancelled as a precaution.
Police helicopters patrolled the skies over the capital, attempting to pursue and identify those responsible for the attacks.
Unrest began after the deaths of two youths in the rundown Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois on 27 October, who were accidentally electrocuted at an electricity sub-station after reportedly fleeing police.
The northern town of Evreux in Normandy saw some of the worst unrest overnight with at least 30 cars burned along with three shops, the local authorities said.
A school was also petrol-bombed in the town while four police officers were injured in clashes with youths, some of them reportedly wielding baseball bats.
Saturday night's violence was the worst reported to date:
A McDonald's was rammed by a car and almost completely burnt out in Corbeil-Essonnes, south of Paris
Five classrooms of a nursery in Grigny, south of Paris, were destroyed by fire while a primary school was also slightly damaged
A recycling facility was attacked in the Essone area near Paris, with 800 sq m of paper going up in flames and at least 35 vehicles torched
In Drancy, north-east of Paris, two teenagers were caught and handed over to police after they tried to set fire to a lorry.
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Marches
Earlier on Saturday hundreds of people joined marches in Paris suburbs to protest against the violence.
In Aulnay-sous-Bois, which has seen some of the worst of the rioting, residents walked past burnt out vehicles and buildings with banners reading "No to violence" and "Yes to dialogue".
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met eight key ministers and the head of the Paris mosque, Dalil Boubakeur.
After the meeting, Mr Boubakeur urged a change in tone from the government.
"What I want from the authorities, from Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, the prime minister and senior officials are words of peace," he said.
Mr de Villepin has been holding a series of meetings with public figures and ordinary people from the affected areas as he seeks an end to the crisis.
Mr Sarkozy's much-quoted description of urban vandals as "rabble" (racaille) a few days before the riots began is said by many to have already created tension.
Reports of a police tear gas grenade hitting a mosque during the riots further inflamed feelings.
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For mayhem and arson no less.
French are rioting against Muslim immigrants?
"Warnings won't dissuade the Infitadists. Neither will a shoot-to-kill policy (which has not yet been imposed and probably won't be). Not only do radical islamics have no respect for the lives of others, they have precious little respect for their own. Therefore the infitada will continue."
Need ... more ... warnings.
Look for Yuts in the US to do copy cat car burnings enmasse from the frog experience.
"Whoowhee, the frigging terr perps who are burning and destroying, got upset over their muskhouse getting hit with a TG grenade? Poor wittle cry babies."
Do you think the true French (not the wimpy leftist Frogs) rise up and bring this nonsense to an end.
"Do you think the true French (not the wimpy leftist Frogs) rise up and bring this nonsense to an end."YES I DO good friend thank you
I think I understand.
We have few jobs, so if we burn the places that provide jobs and education, things will get better.
Is this right?
No..They would search for "root causes"..
Sounds possible.
I'm surprised some of the people getting their cars and businesses torched don't throw a molotov cocktail at the thugs burning their cars. No, their french I'm not surprised. It takes a warriors mentality to fight fire with overwhelming fire.
Yes. Like hooligan.."A tough and agressive or violent youth."
. . .yes; and aka. . .'rabble'. . .in my dictionary, anyway. ;^)
"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).
One could even say that nothing has changed since Winnie wrote that in 1899.
I think we can safely assume the "peace" people would be joining them in the streets. They are not "peace" people, they are "anti-Western-civilization" people
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