Extension of Urban Violence
by Dominique Raizon November 5, 2005 à 17:37 (heure de Paris)
The wave of urban violence, which broke out in Parisian suburbs over a week ago, now overflows ever widely upon several large provincial towns. Cities like Strasbourg, Rennes and Toulouse, or even Dijon, Rouen and Marseilles were in their turn the theater of depredations of an extent without precedent. In response to this violence, a quiet walk was organized this morning at Aulnay-under-Wood.
As of Saturday at 5:30 am Paris time (12:30 am Eastern), the police counted 754 vehicles burnt and carried out 203 arrests. According to figures of the Ministry for the Interior, a quarter of the incidents took place in the provinces, with approximately 190 vehicles destroyed by the flames. The most serious incident occurred in Seine-Maritime where in Cleon unknown persons set fire to a bus of the Transports de l'agglomération d'Elbeuf (TAE). All the passengers could leave in health and safety. The vehicle was completely destroyed. According to first testimony, a group of ten young people assembled aboard bus when it stopped in a sensitive district. They launched bottle flamers inside the vehicle before fleeing.
In the suburbs of Lille (North) and in Arras or again in Calais (Pas-de-Calais), bands of young people set fires in trash cans and set fire to several cars. In the south, the towns of Bordeaux (the Gironde), Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), and Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) experienced similar disturbances. In Toulouse, the most important incidents took place in the district of Mirail, at edge of the peripheral: in this so-called "sensitive" district, the rioters launched a car so that it ramned the building of a Renault auto dealer. In the east of France, in the towns of Strasbourg (the Low-Rhine), and Dijon (Gold Coast), first-aid organizations intervened until four in the morning Saturday to extinguish multiple small fires set in trash cans and major car fires. In the west, Rennes and Rouen were touched by similar degradations.
The rioters change tactics, arrests increase
The flare ups in the suburbs all around Paris and the recent overflows of them into the provinces testify an oil-touched effect. As on the previous nights, public institutions (schools, town halls, police stations, fire trucks) and private interests (trade, warehouses...) were used as targets. However, according to police sources, the rioters changed tactics: when the hostilities started, they went into direct confrontation with the police; now, more seeming to choose harassing, they make a stand, awaiting the firemen or the police before withdrawing to ground which they know better than anybody.
For their part, the police also have modified their approach to the situation: a helicopter provided with a projector-camera was even dispatched on the spot. No confrontation arose on either side, which confirms the strategy of avoidance of confrontation with the police adopted the previous night by the troublemakers. Result: more than 200 people were challenged, a large increase in number, as it was learned from a police source: "The police action has born fruit as a result", according to the general manager of the national police force (DGPN), Michel Gaudin.
An Exasperated Population
The number of meetings among Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and his government, the municipal authorities and the persons in charge for the associative networks multiplies. They discuss and reflect on the means to put in place to stop the spiral. The inhabitants of the affected suburbs say that as for them, they are "exasperated by this guerrilla", especially those who saw their burnt work places. In response to this violence which does not cease to escalate, the UMP mayor of Aulnay-under-Wood (Seine-Saint-Denis), Gerard Gaudron, for his part called for a quiet walk Saturday in his city.
Between 2 and 3 thousand people marched for approximately an hour in the streets of the city strewn with carcasses of burnt out cars. "Violence no, dialogue yes", read the streamer deployed at the head of the procession, which at around 11:00 left the fire station of the town of 80,000 inhabitants. "It is a sign that republican law applies to all, and that we will not yield to violence", Gerard Gaudron declared. "It is a strong sign to show to those who make these riots that now, it is enough". The demonstrators, of all ages and many origins, applauded at the passing of firemen whose truck had a broken windshield: "Our firemen risk their lives here every night, we must support them", said a demonstrator. "We all are opposed to what occurs here", a man of North African origin declared.
Thank you!
Hear anyone on that radio saying Le CaCA yet?
Thanks for the report from Paris media. Can anyone IMAGINE Giuliani reacting to rioters in this way?
"For their part, the police also have modified their approach to the situation: a helicopter provided with a projector-camera was even dispatched on the spot."
The French have finally begun to shoot!!!! with cameras