No, the question is- do we want to.
Posted on 11/07/2005 2:44:49 AM PST by Dane
French police made 395 arrests last night as riots intensified for the 11th consecutive night, with violence and fire engulfing towns from the North to the Mediterranean.
In the impoverished suburbs and satellite towns around Paris, where the unrest began on October 27, churches, schools and warehouses were set alight. At least 1,408 vehicles were destroyed, many more than on previous nights, and the random attacks have spread into the heart of the city.
In Grigny, south of the capital, a gang of around 200 youths are reported to have lured police into a housing estate before opening fire with hunting rifles. At least 30 officers were injured, two seriously with lead pellets in the legs and neck.
Riots broke out in beacons of disaffection across the country from Lille, on the border with Belgium, to Montpellier on the Mediterranean coast. In Toulouse, police used tear gas to disperse a mob. Cars were set alight on the streets of Nantes, Orleans, Rennes and Rouen, and youths in St Etienne forced passengers off a bus before burning it. Churches were set ablaze in northern Lens and southern Sete.
SNIP
In Strasbourg, youths stole a car and rammed it into a housing project, setting the vehicle and the building on fire. "We’ll stop when Sarkozy steps down," the defiant 17-year-old driver told an Associated Press reporter.
Police are calling for a night-time curfew in affected areas and some senior officers have demanded that troops are brought on to the streets.
Michel Gaudin, France's most senior police officer, said today: "We are witnessing a sort of shock wave that is spreading across the country."
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Well, its not a Winchester AA, so who knows how effective it is at any range. :-/
All the Renaults, Citroens and Pueguots that have burned...must be hundreds of euros in damage. Maybe tomorrow we'll see a French business reporter discussing this timely boost to the French auto industry.
For later ping.
So far things haven't gotten real bad. No major deaths, but I fear that will change.
No one is enjoying this, however it would have been nice many years ago if France had supported the war on terror and accepted the reality of this. They have since (actually always in modern times) appeased and now are seeing the fruits of their ineptness.
Actually, I'm rather enjoying this, watching the French wring their hands & blather about how to stop it and what caused it (Don't get stuck on stupid! It's caused by appeasement of Islamic terrorists and the socialist/welfare-state, same as in NO) while their cities are burning down before them!
No, the question is- do we want to.
marking
"No mention of Muslims in the entire article.
Vicomte13 says this has absolutely nothing to do with islam, and he/she is in France"
except that 99% of those rioting are muslim and 99% of their victims ar not.
Good point!
Agreed! You could cut the Schadenfreude with a knife, but the Frenchies are at least nominally part of Western civilization, and it would be a shame to see them become an Islamic Republic! So we may wind up having to go in there and save their smelly butts for the third time in a century....
How come we're not hearing about the Muslim rioting going on in Denmark?
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/cover110405.htm
To which, my friend from 'downunder' replies:
I am still waiting to hear of a fatwah (a Muslim call for the death of those Muslims who have offended Muslim sensitivies) against Osama bin Laden, the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, the PLO, Jemal Islamiyah and
other terrorist leaders and organizations. As for the innocent Muslims amongst us, they seem unable to surrender the terrorists living behind their protection. The French authorities need to come to grips with the
fact that French people -- and British, Danish, Dutch, Germans and Belgians -- really do not like Muslims (for whatever reasons) in their societies. Australians are edgy about them, too.
It's a very vexed problem.
There are no moderate islamics. Islam is the enemy and the war on terror ends with the death of the last moslem
I could not agree more. These riots are not random acts of rage, but have taken on a decidedly political aim, which is nothing less than a kind of Hamas-style independence from French authority in these areas. The evidence that this is being born out can be seen if one examines the fatwa (quoted by CNN at http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/11/06/france.riots.fatwa.reut/index.html) issued by the Union of French Islamic Organizations:
"It is formally forbidden to any Muslim seeking divine grace and satisfaction to participate in any action that blindly hits private or public property or could constitute an attack on someone's life," the fatwa said. "Contributing to such exactions is an illicit act," declared the edict, which said it was applicable to "any Muslim living in France, whether a citizen or a guest of France."
Freeper coconutt2000 makes the telling observation that the key word here is "blindly." That is, if young Muslims are receiving direction in their attacks, preferably from radical clerics, the fatwa does not apply. In other words, the fatwa is decidedly not an attempt to calm the situation, but is rather an attempt by French Islamists to take control of the violence and direct it to their own ends.
Not at all. Go read some of V13's posts over the last day or so.
Would I want to risk my sons to take back the streets of Paris? Absolutely not.
My uncle was buried in Arlington Cemetery last January. He fought at Normandy. My father was a hospital corpsman in WWII (South Pacific) and Korea. They witnessed the horrors of war. But as horrible as it was, we will have it worse. It was a lot easier when the enemy lived in defined geographic areas, wore uniforms and flew planes with insignias identifying them. Our enemies live among us.
Yes, I think their objective, for the moment, is a sort of Gaza situation.
That said, I don't think they started out as very organized or with the Gaza objective in mind, but judging from the fragmentary reports we get, it seems as if this idea is now moving to the fore and they are demanding the resignation of Sarkozy and the establishment of their own Muslim "territories." I think the riots happened because a bunch of bored troublemakers saw an excuse for some action, and now are being encouraged by both internal and external forces and used to further an ideological agenda.
Great quote.
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