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Clashes erupt at Paris train station (Is Paris still burning?)
Associated Press via Yahoo! News ^ | 2007 Mar 28 | Jamey Keaten

Posted on 03/27/2007 3:23:40 PM PDT by Wiz

PARIS - Riot police firing tear gas and brandishing batons clashed Tuesday with bands of youths who shattered windows and looted shops at a major Paris train station, officials said. Nine people were arrested.

Officials said about 100 people were involved in the melee at Gare du Nord, one of Paris' most important transport hubs. Officers and police dogs fired tear gas and charged at groups of marauding youths, some of them wearing hoods and swinging metal bars.

The youths responded by throwing trash cans and other objects at the officers. A group of youths smashed the windows of a sporting goods store and looted boxes of shoes. Others attacked automatic drink dispensers and set fire to an information booth.

Commuter Cyril Zidou, a 24-year-old electrician, said he was coming home from the gym "when I just got gassed." One woman was evacuated by paramedics for inhalation of tear gas.

The violence did not appear directly related to France's presidential election less than a month away, but it highlighted the social and economic tensions that the country's new leader will inherit when he or she takes power in May.

The train lines from Gare du Nord radiate out to the same suburbs north of Paris where three weeks of rioting erupted in 2005. That violence was born of pent-up anger — especially among youths of Arab and African origin — over years of high unemployment and racial inequalities.

Youths at the station said Tuesday's clashes started when police manhandled a young person of North African origin. Some claimed that the youth's arm was broken in the confrontation.

Zidou said the violence had echoes of the riots in 2005. "They never finished," he said. "It slowed down a bit, but it was never over."

Another commuter, Guy Elkoun, said: "There's always a feeling of insecurity in this train station ... I knew this could happen someday."

Officials from Paris' RATP public transport authority said the violence started after a man without a Metro ticket punched two inspectors during a routine ticket check. Youths also attacked the inspectors and later turned on police patrolling the station, officials said.

"The inspectors were hit with projectiles, as were the officers who came to assist them," said Luc Poignant, an official for the Force Ouvriere police union.

The clashes forced the closure of the station's subway and commuter lines for several hours. The station's long-distance rail hub and Eurostar terminal, which is attached to the subway station, remained open throughout the melee.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: france; paris; train; trainstation; youths; youts
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1 posted on 03/27/2007 3:23:42 PM PDT by Wiz
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To: Wiz

More "youths" causing trouble in Europe.


2 posted on 03/27/2007 3:25:39 PM PDT by LurkedLongEnough (Think responsibly.)
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To: Wiz
Dem crazy yutes. What'll dey do next?
3 posted on 03/27/2007 3:25:46 PM PDT by Timmy
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To: Wiz
Youths at the station said Tuesday's clashes started when police manhandled a young person of North African origin.

None dare call him Muslim...

4 posted on 03/27/2007 3:26:05 PM PDT by Old Sarge (+ /_\)
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To: Wiz; RayChuang88
Riot police firing tear gas and brandishing batons clashed Tuesday with bands of youths who shattered windows and looted shops at a major Paris train station, officials said. Nine people were arrested.

Ray with all the incidents involving "youths" on trains in France, could your enthusiasm for Eurostar trains connecting CDG to London be unwarranted? Who is going to want to get on a train in the UK to go to CDG to catch a flight, when there are so many threats to personal safety on French trains?

5 posted on 03/27/2007 3:29:14 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
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To: Wiz
"(Is Paris still burning?)" IF it were only true!!!
6 posted on 03/27/2007 3:33:50 PM PDT by mighty_righty
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To: Paleo Conservative

yep, none dare call them what they are. Neither ethnic identity, or even call to call them criminals. Instead, they are "youths". Gotta be politically correct to the death, I guess.


7 posted on 03/27/2007 3:35:04 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Wiz

A typically circumspect article with eight mentions of the word 'yout'. 'Yout' is quickly becoming a code word for 'you know who'.


8 posted on 03/27/2007 3:39:21 PM PDT by 6SJ7
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To: Wiz

"Officers and police dogs fired tear gas "

NAHHHHHH way..the French police dogs fired tear gas. We need video.


9 posted on 03/27/2007 3:40:50 PM PDT by happinesswithoutpeace (You are receiving this broadcast as a dream)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Kill the bastards!


10 posted on 03/27/2007 3:41:23 PM PDT by elcid1970
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To: Wiz
Officers and police dogs fired tear gas...

Wonder where I can get one of those tear gas firing dogs. Sounds like something useful to have.

11 posted on 03/27/2007 3:41:40 PM PDT by xsysmgr
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To: happinesswithoutpeace

Nice doggie, nice doggie!


12 posted on 03/27/2007 3:42:56 PM PDT by Don Carlos (Posting tasteless comments since 02/03/2002)
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To: Don Carlos

LOl. They were defending the defenseless automatic drink dispensers.


13 posted on 03/27/2007 3:43:27 PM PDT by happinesswithoutpeace (You are receiving this broadcast as a dream)
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To: Wiz; potlatch; ntnychik; devolve; Grampa Dave; MeekOneGOP

14 posted on 03/27/2007 3:46:07 PM PDT by PhilDragoo (Hitlery: das Butch von Buchenvald)
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To: Wiz

French police officers face youths during clashes at the Gare du
Nord Metro station in Paris, Tuesday, March 27, 2007. The
standoff between officers and youths left several station windows
shattered and seven people were arrested. (AP Photo /Jacques
Brinon)
ML/NJ
15 posted on 03/27/2007 3:47:54 PM PDT by ml/nj
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To: Wiz

Gar du Nord is downtown and indeed a major trainstation.


16 posted on 03/27/2007 3:49:12 PM PDT by RightWhale (Treaty rules;commerce droolz; Repeal the Treaty)
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To: Wiz
Officers and police dogs fired tear gas and charged at groups of marauding youths, some of them wearing hoods and swinging metal bars.

LOL! Now that would be something to see... police dogs firing tear gas.

17 posted on 03/27/2007 3:49:14 PM PDT by operation clinton cleanup
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To: ml/nj
Notice how so few of the youts are trying to conceal their identity. They know they will face little, if any, repercussions for these incidents.

France has a choice to make.
18 posted on 03/27/2007 3:52:07 PM PDT by happinesswithoutpeace (You are receiving this broadcast as a dream)
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To: Wiz
"That violence was born of pent-up anger — especially among youths of Arab and African origin — over years of high unemployment and racial inequalities."

The AP, always ready with the same tired old reasons to excuse thuggery, holiganism, and rioting by muslims and non-whites.

19 posted on 03/27/2007 3:54:20 PM PDT by StormEye
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To: happinesswithoutpeace
Meanwhile, trained cats are in position.

and the squirrel aims its bazooka...

Finally, one of the rioter surrenders what it has stolen from the shop nearby.

20 posted on 03/27/2007 3:55:09 PM PDT by Wiz
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