French violence hits fresh peak (1,408 vehicles burned on Sunday night)

The BBC ^ | Last Updated: Monday, 7 November 2005, 12:26 GMT | Anonymous BBC story monkey

[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.

[DJ Taylor]

It is time for a martial law, sun down to sun up curfew, and violators will be shot on sight government policy, just like we did during the Rodney King riots. No, wait a minute, we didn't do that. We just let them riot until they had burned everything, got tired and went home.

The sad fact is that our government probably won't do any better than the French are doing when our own home grown Muslim Jihadists begin to riot. And they will, it's just a matter of time.

[millefleur]

"Nothing seems to be able to stop the civil war that spreads a bit more every day across the whole country," they said in a statement.

Perhaps Janet Reno could offer a few tips?

[x5452]

Still Al Quaeda is proving once again they are nt really a force to be reckoned with, I mean what does taking France prove? Anyone can take over France.

Maybe Bin Laden has run out of expensive wines...

[ohioWfan]

I think I'll stick with ABC, CBS, and NBC for the real story.

PLEASE tell me that this is sarcasm!!

[ConsentofGoverned]

Nothing seems to be able to stop the civil war that spreads a bit more every day across the whole country," "they said in a statement.
This is what the folks who want an end to border control and immigration law are begging for. But their immature, bleeding-heart logic prevents them from understanding this.

Welcome to the future of the U.S.A."
......................................................
"othing seems to be able to stop the civil war that spreads a bit more every day across the whole country," they said in a statement.
This is what the folks who want an end to border control and immigration law are begging for. But their immature, bleeding-heart logic prevents them from understanding this.

Welcome to the future of the U.S.A."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
BUMP worth repeating

[LaineyDee]

I think I'll stick with ABC, CBS, and NBC for the real story.

LOL!!! That's rich!

[Loud Mime]

===These scum need to be shipped back home now!===

Yep. Airborne Drop, minimal training, disposable T-10 chutes, 6,000 ft. agl to give them something to think about on their way down....

[mjwise]

Damn amish kids! When will they learn?!

do i need /sarc?

[OXENinFLA]

IMO this could be solved by instituting a dusk till dawn curfew, any one seen one the streets during the curfew are subject to arrest (min of 90 days in jail).

Any one seen destroying property immediately turns into lead catcher.

[alnitak]

Pictures from The Times.

Rioters hurl stones at firefighters and policemen during clashes in Toulouse. The disturbances in France have spread from Paris to many other cities (Thierry Bordas/EPA)

A firefighter extinguishes a car in "Les Musiciens" housing complex in the western Paris suburb of Les Mureaux. Riot police broke down doors in Les Mureaux to arrest youths who had thrown supermarket trollies at them (Francois Mori/AP)

A shotgun cartridge fired at police in Grigny where two policemen were injured by buckshot fired from pistols and hunting rifles (Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images)

Firemen have also been attacked in Toulouse (Eric Cabanis/AFP/Getty Images)

Rioters used a car to break through the glass door of this McDonald's restaurant in Corbeil-Essonnes, south of Paris. An Opel car dealership and a tyre warehouse were also set ablaze in the town (Jacques Brinon/AP)

The chained entrance of a torched police station in Evreux in Normandy (Victor Tonelli/Reuters)

In Evry, near Paris, more than 100 bottles, gallons of fuel and hoods for hiding rioters' faces were found (Pierre Andrieu/AFP/Getty Images)

Youths being arrested during the seventh night of violence in Aulnay sous Bois, where a police station was besieged and 40 cars were burnt (EPA/Eric Travers / Pascal Le Floch)

The remains of burned buses in Aulnay-sous-Bois, among hundreds of vehicles set ablaze (Stephane De Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images)

The riots started after two youths, aged 15 and 17, were electrocuted in a power sub-station where they were hiding from police (EPA/Travers /Le Floch)

Clichy-Sous-Bois residents march in protest at the deaths of the two teenagersAP Photo/Christophe Ena)

[Loud Mime]

----Why don't the police just shoot the rioters? That would put an end to it fast.---

No it wouldn't. They would riot more, and more would be shot. They would get angrier and more would be shot...

Hey...maybe you're on to something.

[Adder]

Because they are French police...

A better question might be "Why hasn't the government surrendered?"

[stocksthatgoup]

Chirac - Let them eat Yellow Cake!

[alnitak]

Sorry about the interesting indentation :-) It looked better in preview.

[RouxStir]

A map of the affected towns:

Obviously, these are just isolated incidents...no coordination whatsoever.

[LRoggy]

The wisdom of our forefathers in developing the 2nd Amendment may now be seen in all its glory. Here, we can defend our own property. Too bad the French citizens aren't given that option. Having to rely on "a low morale police force" doesn't cut it here. Perhaps a reason that we don't get hit here, besides the fact that most Muslims here don't feel like sacrificing their economic gains, is that the terrorists know we can fight back.

Good luck France, you've reaped what you've sown. If I were a New Yorker or other Blue City, I would take good note of what is going on here. History does repeat itself. What is happening in France is not unlike Athens in the Peloppenesian Wars. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Let's hope that this time it isn't a fatal hubris on your part.

[Bon mots]

"My Renault!"

[libstripper]

You don't seem to understand that a modern pellet gun can be somewhere between quite damaging and lethal. I have two, each with 1000 fps muzzle velocity, close to that of a .22. When a .177 pellet hits a telephone book it penetrates about .75", mushrooms, and does more damage the farther it goes in. By the time it comes to rest, it has usually disintegrated. If it hit a human in the face at a fairly close range, there's a good chance it could penetrate his skull and kill him. 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.

I'll grant that a pellet gun doesn't have the wallop a .22 or larger firearm does. However, as noted above, they are not toys and can be used to do a lot of damage by someone with a criminal intent.

[Always Right]

Muslim leaders of African and Arab communities have also issued a fatwa, or religious order, against the riots.

They are Muslim? Wow, I just thought they were angry youths.

[RouxStir]

"Someone insisted that they were using 'shotguns' instead of pellet guns."

Shotguns that are loaded with any size shot are sometimes referred to as "pellet" guns.