Posted on 11/07/2005 4:38:50 AM PST by alnitak
A night of rioting in France has left 1,408 vehicles burnt out and resulted in 395 arrests - the highest tolls yet in 11 nights of unrest.
Ten policemen were injured by shots and stones when they confronted 200 rioters in the Paris suburb of Grigny, with two policemen seriously hurt.
President Jacques Chirac has said restoring order is his top priority.
French media report that a man in a coma after an attack on Friday could be the first fatality of the unrest.
Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, 61, was reportedly struck by a hooded man in the street after he and a neighbour went to inspect damage to bins near their apartment block in the town of Stains, in the Seine-Saint-Denis region outside Paris.
His widow has been received by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
Appeal to Muslims
Muslim leaders of African and Arab communities have also issued a fatwa, or religious order, against the riots.
Map of main flashpoints
"It is strictly forbidden for any Muslim... to take part in any action that strikes blindly at private or public property or that could threaten the lives of others," the fatwa by the Union of Islamic Organisations in France said.
French riots in pictures
Hundreds of cars were set on fire in different towns on Sunday night, and police had to use tear gas to disperse a club-wielding mob in Toulouse.
Unrest has gripped areas with large African and Arab communities since the deaths of two youths in the rundown Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, who were accidentally electrocuted at an electricity sub-station after reportedly fleeing police.
Mr Sarkozy's oft-cited description of urban vandals as "rabble" (racaille) a few days before the riots began is said by many to have fuelled tensions.
Reports of a police tear gas grenade hitting a mosque during the riots further inflamed feelings.
Despite the controversy over Mr Sarkozy's remarks, a CSA opinion poll published in Le Parisien at the weekend showed him with a nationwide approval rating of 57%.
Police under attack
The two police officers were injured by gunfire in what police described as an "ambush" in Grigny late on Sunday.
France has been set ablaze by the embers of a racial resentment that the Villepin government has been incapable of extinguishing
Spanish daily ABC
European press on riots Send us your views
They were taken to hospital with wounds to the leg and throat.
Police chiefs said their men were being deliberately confronted by gangs apparently intent on fighting them.
"They really shot at officers, said local police commander Bernard Franio.
"This is real, serious violence - not like the previous nights. I'm very worried because this is mounting."
In the southern city of Toulouse, police fired tear gas grenades to push back rioters and violent attacks were also reported in Marseille, Saint-Etienne and Lille.
Of the 1,408 vehicles burnt, 982 were attacked outside the Paris region as the "shock wave" from the Paris region reached the provinces, in the words of national police chief Michel Gaudin.
"The law must have the last word," Mr Chirac told reporters in his first public address on the violence on Sunday.
He promised arrest, trials and punishment for perpetrators but added that "respect for all, justice and equal opportunity," were needed to end the unrest.
Mr Chirac had faced criticism from opposition politicians for not speaking publicly about the unrest since it began on 27 October.
Echoes of our own domestic politics.
When you start to add up the cost of all those cars, we're talking about millions of dollars of damage here. I wonder if insurance companies in france cover riots?
PARIS (AP) - Rioting by French youths spread to 300 towns overnight and a man hurt in the violence died of his wounds, the first fatality in 11 days of unrest that has shocked the country, police said Monday.
As urban unrest spread to neighboring Belgium and possibly Germany, the French government faced growing criticism for its inability to stop the violence, despite massive police deployment and continued calls for calm.
On Sunday night, vandals burned more than 1,400 vehicles, and clashes around the country left 36 police injured, setting a new high for overnight arson and violence since rioting started Oct. 27, Michel Gaudin told a news conference.
Australia, Austria, Britain, Germany and Hungary advised their citizens to exercise care in France, joining the United States and Russia in warning tourists to stay away from violence-hit areas.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051107/D8DNLIF06.html
All told, 4,700 cars have been burned in France since the rioting began and 1,200 suspects were detained at least temporarily, Gaudin said.
You're right, of course. Only force is understandable to a mob.
The Israeli method used to be to headshoot or kneecap the ringleaders with suppressed weapons and round up the rest. We used to use "riot" shotguns- load 'em with birdshot, skip the charge off the pavement ahead of the mob, and cause lots of mostly superficial but bloody wounds. We seem to be getting overly-civilized, in my humble opinion.
I know we joke about it "only being Renaults" getting torched, but I suspect to the owners it's a big loss.
But it goes far beyond that- by not responding to anarchy with enough force to contain & quell it, France has insured that they will have more- in spades. At what point do they lose control of their country?
4,700 cars x $5,000 (average) = $23,500,000
If you assume higher average car costs, the damage can be much higher.
Someone insisted that they were using 'shotguns' instead of pellet guns.
This is the first reference to 'pellet guns' (French riots) that I have read. All other references have used the term 'shotgun'.
Shotguns are sometimes referred to as 'pellet guns'--they do shoot pellets. And, keep in mind the possibility of inexact translations and cultural differences in term useage.
Beyond that, it is entirely possible that both 'shotguns' and 'pellet guns' have been used by the rioters.
And while the Malitov Cocktails are lethal weapons in their own right, putting things in perspective, it appears this riot doesn't have much lethal intent against police-- yet.
I'm not so sure about that. A story that I read last night referred to a French police officer recovering an unexploded device...a soda bottle w/ a 'clear liquid' and nails inside. That's not exactly a Molotov cocktail--that's an 'IED'.
Yeah, Looks like a bunch of "Irish" guys to me.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
The loger this goes on the breater opportunity for an organized terror campaign to begin there. Chirac better get his butt in gear and quell this crap right away. The time for talk is over.
"President Jacques Chirac has said restoring order is his top priority."
When Jack? Next spring?
loger= longer breater= greater
Typing too fast.
Add to that the cost of the buildings they have burned down, the buses they have torched and you have a LOT of economic damage. I'm stunned that the french have allowed this to go on this long without clamping down.
I've been wondering about 'insurance', too. And cars are just the tip of the iceberg. Lots of real estate and business inventories have fallen to the torch.
Millions/ billions? of euros have been incinerated. Whether or not the losses are covered by insurance is almost irrelevant because the losses are real...the only question is 'who' ends up paying for it. And those are just the tangible losses...saying nothing for the damage to intangibles like the tourist industry...
Muslim leaders of African and Arab communities have also issued a fatwa, or religious order, against the riots.
"It is strictly forbidden for any Muslim... to take part in any action that strikes blindly at private or public property or that could threaten the lives of others," the fatwa by the Union of Islamic Organisations in France said.
_________________
Yeah, right.
About time. Beginning to wonder if they would ever say anything.
I think they meant young ragheads
In his first public comments since the unrest began, Mr Chirac said the state was determined "to be stronger than those who want to sow
violence or fear".
#####
I wonder if all the pundits are decrying his slow response!!!
you can only clamp down so much when you can only legally work 35 hours in France.
JockStrap will have order. He ordered up a mess of new white flags.
"There are also one or two fatal accidents a year in this country where one kid fires a pellet gun at another at close range, hits the victim's head, and kills him."
Yep, the radio reported a death by pellet gun here in the DFW area last week.
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