Posted on 01/04/2006 6:19:14 PM PST by blam
French Riviera gang terrorises passengers in two-hour train rampage
By Colin Randall
(Filed: 05/01/2006)
Hundreds of passengers were terrorised by a mob of youths rampaging through a train on the French Riviera.
One young woman was sexually assaulted, travellers were robbed of phones and cash, and carriages were wrecked in the two-hour assault, it emerged yesterday.
Up to 40 youths involved in the attacks had taken advantage of a special fare of about 80p to travel from Marseilles and Avignon to celebrate the New Year in Nice.
They were part of a larger group of 100, many drunk from their overnight festivities and escorted by police to Nice station for their return journey at dawn on Sunday.
A small police team accompanied the Lyons-bound train at first. But trouble broke out soon after their departure.
Eventually the driver stopped the train at Les Arc-sur-Argens to appeal for extra police assistance. Only three officers turned up and violence continued as they awaited reinforcements before boarding the train. The line was blocked for an hour and a half as police gained control of the train.
Passengers spoke of being warned they would be killed if they refused to hand over belongings or told police what had happened.
They said they were too frightened to intervene and several refused to lodge complaints of theft or assault.
"It was a real scene of pillage on the train," the regional prosecutor, Dominique Luiggi, said yesterday as details emerged. "Passengers were in a state of panic."
One witness said there had already been assaults and threats, including other indecent attacks on young women, on Saturday's outward journey.
He said the robbers were of Arab origin and had boasted about their plans to cause more trouble on the train.
President Jacques Chirac promised yesterday to bring the gang to justice. He said those responsible would be "found and punished".
France's Le Parisien newspaper likened the youths to the gang in the film Clockwork Orange.
With what? Jobs, government handouts, what?
President Jacques Chirac promised yesterday to bring the gang to justice. He said those responsible would be "found and punished".
"ROUND UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS!!!"
Send 'em to Devil's Island? Nah, they'd be right at home there.
Why should the Australian Muslims have all the "Leb style" fun?
Uh, oh! Looks like Chirac is about to open up a can of "Stern talking to."
Bet those Frenchmen are glad they opted out of the war on terror now. I can't imagine how much worse it would have been if they had put up a fight.
ping...LOL
Yes, I remember them well.
Those Muslims in Clockwork Orange. NOT
Well, then. Couldn't have been Muzzies.
TROP again, how charming.
25 years ago you didn't have to fear that kind of crap. My mother once left my sister and I (mid-late teens) alone in Nice for a week while she went to Italy, it was quite safe.
I haven't been back to France since the 1970's and apparently there isn't much to go back to, sadly. I can honestly say that I would be afraid to go there, a place that was once home away from home.
The DNA of Charles Martel doesn't seem to reside in France anymore.
My thoughts exactly.
oh yahh, another example of who's in charge in that country. Hint: its not the french.
"mob of youths"
youths, youths ... hmmm ...
That's NewFrench for Cutthroat Cult Wannabees,
isn't it?
So why didn't the French "men" on the train protect their women? Were they waiting for the US to come save them? Again?
Notwithstanding deep resentment toward some people and behaviors from France, I got myself hungup several years back on being a cross-cultural student (U.S./French) of what goes on there.
I love baguettes (and a lot else) but despise their arrogance (and a lot else). Nonetheless, I study the language and history and am in for the long haul.
This report, though, I must say, is one of the most sickening (and ominous) that I have ever seen. Not that the violence reported here is so bad. But when they can not contain it to their "banlieue", when tourists cannot be safe, that theme-park country has very little left.
"President Jacques Chirac promised yesterday to bring the gang to justice. He said those responsible would be "found and punished. ROUND UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS!!!"
I suppose they are now on the lookout for a bunch of rowdy Swedes... with white vans.
It really depends on where you go in France. Marseilles just isn't safe. Nice was relatively nice 4 years ago. Rural France: no worries.
Where Muslim congregate, however... I had a Jewish friend who was spit upon by an Algerian in Lyon. He confronted her, told her what a terrible place France was and about how awful the French and the Jews were, and when she asked him if he had thought about moving back to Algeria, he spit on her and called her a dirty American Jew.
I had unfortunately stepped aside for a few minutes during this exchange.
I'd be curious to see if things really have gone that far downhill in just the few short years since I last visited.
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