French Rioters Shoot at Police, Fire Crews

AP ^ | November 3, 2005 | JAMEY KEATEN

[West Coast Conservative]

Rioting youths shot at police and firefighters Thursday after burning car dealerships and public buses and hurling rocks at commuter trains. France's government faced growing pressure to curb the violence, fueled by anger over poor conditions in suburban Paris housing projects.

Rampaging for an eighth day, youths ignored an appeal for calm from French President Jacques Chirac, whose government worked feverishly to fend off a political crisis amid criticism that it has ignored problems in suburbs heavily populated by first- and second-generation North African and Muslim immigrants.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called a string of emergency meetings with Cabinet ministers throughout the day. He told the Senate the government "will not give in" to violence in the troubled suburbs.

"Order and justice will be the final word in our country," Villepin said. "The return to calm and the restoration of public order are the priority _ our absolute priority."

The riots started last Thursday after the electrocution deaths of two teenagers hiding in a power station from police they believed were chasing them in the northeastern suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.

By Wednesday night, violence had spread to at least 20 Paris-region towns, said Jean-Francois Cordet, the top government official for the Seine-Saint-Denis region north of Paris where the violence has been concentrated. He said youths in the region fired four shots at riot police and firefighters but caused no injuries.

Nine people were injured in Seine-Saint-Denis and 315 cars burned across the Paris area, officials said. In the tough northeastern suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois, youth gangs set fire to a Renault car dealership and burned at least a dozen cars, a supermarket and a local gymnasium.

Traffic was halted Thursday morning on a suburban commuter line linking Paris to Charles de Gaulle airport after stone-throwing rioters attacked two trains overnight at the Le Blanc-Mesnil station. They forced a conductor from one train and broke windows, the SNCF rail authority said. A passenger was lightly injured by broken glass.

The unrest has highlighted the division between France's big cities and their poor suburbs, with frustration simmering in the housing projects in areas marked by high unemployment, crime and poverty.

The violence also cast doubt on the success of France's model of seeking to integrate its large immigrant community _ its Muslim population, at an estimated 5 million, is Western Europe's largest _ by playing down differences between ethnic groups. Rather than feeling embraced as full and equal citizens, immigrants and their French-born children complain of police harassment and of being refused jobs, housing and opportunities.

Opposition groups accused the government of letting the situation spiral out of control, either by failing to act quickly enough or letting in too many immigrants over the years.

"We see that the situation in certain neighborhoods is not getting better at all but degenerating," Socialist Party President Jean-Marc Ayrault told LCI television, who said Chirac's conservatives "did not know how to take control."

Right-wing French lawmaker Philippe de Villiers, who has said he wants to "stop the Islamization of France," told RTL radio that the problem stemmed from the "failure of a policy of massive and uncontrolled immigration."

Minister of Social Cohesion Jean-Louis Borloo said the government had to react "firmly" but added that France must also acknowledge its failure to have dealt with anger simmering in poor suburbs for decades.

"We cannot hide the truth: that for 30 years we have not done enough," he told France-2 television.

[CzarNicky]

France's government faced growing pressure to curb the violence, fueled by anger over poor conditions muslims in suburban Paris housing projects.

There fixed it.

[travlnmn41]

Well, at least we have Prince Charles setting us barbarians straight, huh?

[appalachian_dweller]

>> many French Muslim bloogers are egging it all on <<

I saw that. Could be just bluster and rhetoric (I hope). My fear is that it's organized.

Thank you for digging that up.

[right-wingin_It]

I'd put the osama face on the dude on the left...Leave the middle guy

[proud_yank]

I don't know why, but each time I see that picture, I get this real warm feeling inside. It really, really makes me get all sentimental about how great it is being an American. Particularly, not being a candy a$$!!

[xkaydet65]

France used to have the Garde Mobile, which deGaulle unleashed on the Paris Spring rioters in '68. He then went to the Rhineland and assured himself the support of the Army. He went on TV and radio and appealed to the people. I remember listening to his speech on my Hallicrafters short wave, picking up every fourth word with my HS French. Though I remember not having trouble with his conclusion.
"Les Francais et Francaise aidez moi. Vive La France. Vive Le Cinquieme Republique!" A million people rushed into the streets of Paris singing Les Marseillese and waving Le Tricoleur. DeGaulle was not an ally, but an independent player, but he knew how to reach the french heart. A heart that is now shrunken and impoverished.

[Rushmore Rocks]

Sadly, this is not happening only in France and the Netherlands. The potential for further muslim "insurrection" is rampant all over Europe.........and may be coming to a city near you soon.

We recently had some friends move here from Berlin to work in our business. He had a thriving cabinet factory there in a neighborhood that was totally overrun by muslims. Fear for his family and his business convinced him to make the move to South Dakota. He said they were totally taking over Berlin and many other cities in Germany, brought there by non-existant immigration laws and government hand outs. He is currently trying to get visas for his brothers and their families to move to America. He said there are many, many Europeans trying to move here. (That bit of info makes me more than a bit apprehensive)

Anyway, the Diedtrichs (not their real name), Dad, Mom and three children became American citizens last month. We had quite a party for them after the ceremony. I wanted to prepare a German feast for them, but they wanted an American barbeque. So that's what we did!

I'm embarrassed to say that they know more about our government and our country than most native born Americans.
And of course, when I took them to register to vote, they registered Republican. I told them that I would deport them to Detroit if they didn't.

[VOA]

bump

[Cindy]

Thanks for sharing that story RR.

[backhoe]

Is Paris Burning? ( Religion of Peace Alert )
Click the picture:

[LibertyRocks]

Thanks for the ping. I appreciate it.

[TC Rider]

So when is Jesse Jackson going to Paris to demand justice?

[gathersnomoss]

And I was just planning my French vacation. Darn it.

[Rockpile]

I hope that the British press is giving this some coverage. Our POS American presstitutes are working hard to suppress news about the whole mess. Praise be for the Web.

[attiladhun2]

That popinjay can't even set himself straight. Another elitist trying to curry favor with his own and with the Islamonazis who want to destroy all of us.