Posted on 11/07/2005 3:18:31 AM PST by CarrotAndStick
LONDON/PARIS: In the first disturbing assertion that a European country and its capital can be brought to a halt by the massed forces of Islamist militants both within and outside its borders, French police warned there was evidence they had played a role in inciting vandals, albeit "not on the front lines."
With the tough-talking interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy warning of stiff jail sentences for the rioters, there were signs the French capital was a city under siege.
With night buses in and to some of the more remote suburbs cancelled to prevent rioters using them as soft targets, police helicopters patrolled the skies over the capital.
Sikh community leaders, who make up a small but newly-vocal and highly-visible religious minority in France, told TOI they had so far stayed away from the ongoing troubles. But they admitted the authorities' red alert on potentially troublesome immigrant youths might bring the focus closer to South Asian communities as well.
Meanwhile, Yves Bot, Paris chief prosecutor, said the hit-and-run arson attacks were an insidious "form of action that is organised. It responds to a strategy. It's done by mobile units of youths or older guys because they are masked who arrive on scooters, throw a burning bottle at a vehicle and leave."
He said it was "irrefutable" that these "are organised gangs because it's done in a way that gives every sign of coordination. In fact, one can read blogs on certain websites inciting other cities to join the movement of the Parisian region."
In what many commentators believe is the deadly downside of the 'information revolution', Paris police intelligence sources said they feared the Internet was triggering a domino effect across the country.
Meanwhile, Racial unrest spread to the gilded heart of the French capital on Sunday as the 10th night of rioting continued to leave a charred trail of burnt cars and smoky ruins in Paris and provincial towns.
The continued rioting saw violence erupt around one of the grandest symbolic, touristy images of France in central Paris, the Arc de Triomphe, and to yet another region, Normandy. It is thought to have significantly moved up a gear because it came just hours after religious and community leaders conducted a peace march through some of the capitals worst-hit suburbs.
Police also found a gasoline bomb-making factory in a southern suburb of Paris, with more than 100 bottles, litres of fuel and hoods for hiding rioters faces, a senior justice ministry official said on Sunday.
The French authorities on said that the rioting, inexorably spreading across the country, seemed increasingly well-organised and appeared to be coordinated on the Internet by bands of disaffected technophile youths looking to have a "punch up" with police.
On Sunday, with the riot damage rising to its highest levels in 10 nights, police said 1,295 vehicles had been torched and 312 arrests made over the weekend.
On Saturday night, anxious Parisians reported that several of the fires in Paris, particularly around its key train station, the Gare du Nord, began with the lobbing of a Molotov cocktail.
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©Bennett, Coleman and Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Estd. 1838, in India.
No, no, no. ABC Radio news at 6PM this evening reported that the riots had nothing to do with jihad. Why, they even had an expert claiming that it couldn't possibly have anything to do with radical Islam because all the Imams had called for an end to the riots.
I kid you not. They actually reported this.
The MSM knows that when America understands the true threat, Democrats lose.
This is not terrorism. More like an outright rebellion.
The capslock key is on the left, just above "shift". Do you know what a ZOT is?
I'm going to need to crank up the hand-loader and stock up some more rounds. This will be sooner or later coming to theaters near you.
When in doubt,shoot all the terrorits and let Allah sort them out.
Hm....no internet,no riots.....hmmm.
Seem to remember the Oklahoma City Bombing being blamed on Talk Radio.
thanks for posting this very interesting article.
Vicomte, you might enjoy this.
This is a glimpse into the future of Western society if we cave. The War on Terror must continue.
"So long as they don't kill people, it seems that France will allow this pillage and plunder."
France won't crackdown with deadly force unless the rioters start clearly using deadly force. That is true.
It is not the way that Anglo-Saxons handle a riot, and if I were King, it would not be the way I would handle riots in France either.
But I'm not King, and that is the way it is.
The riots seem to be diminishing in intensity now.
And so now is a dangerous time. The Muslim terrorists who want this to generalize into an insurrection are more likely now to radicalize and use real armed force against the police. If that happens, an armed crackdown will ensue.
The authorities distinguish between property crime and killing.
Yet, one person has *already* been killed, and several others severely injured. This is no longer simple property damage, so what's rhe deal?
the infowarrior
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