France reacts to 'shockwave of riots'(Paris/France burns Live Thread Night #12)

Times of London ^ | 11/07/05 | Simon Freeman, Charles Bremner

[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."

[outofhere2]

Chirac and de Villepin are cowards but at least their tastefully dressed cowards.

[Dark Skies]

This is either a regular leftist riot (I doubt it) or it is part of jihad. Big diff!

These rioters are establishing Islamic holy territory in the middle of Europe (at least that is my guess...if I were a muslim, that would be my goal). Europe and even many in the U.S. just don't get it.

Actually, Islam is quite cool...they are beating the crap out of the west.

It is time we got our sh!t together. It is time we started winning this game.

Religion of peace and love, indeed. Islam is the religion of blood, and destruction, and death.

Our death!

[jeffers]

If you don't like my "posting drawers" just say so.

PS, I'm covering up that little yellow light on my monitor with duct tape. I now know you're penetrated my security and turned it into a camera.

[Dark Skies]

Hey Freddie...are you out there?

[XEHRpa]

The early immigrants to this country, the Italians, Irish, Germans, etc. were poor, got no welfare or free housing yet they did not burn down their neighborhoods or destroy other people's property.

Heck, even when my Mom came to the States in the 1950's, the model was the same. And, garsh!, they even had to take a citizenship test demonstrating a knowledge of the government system of the country into which they were being admitted as citizens!

[Dane]

Fox just had the head of the police on and he said(through translation) that they have found "heavy arms", grenades and such and said the police have asked for the army to be brought out since the second night of the riots.

[Fred Nerks]

Yep, I'm here. Speechless.

[Dark Skies]

Thx Dane. I have heard that French Intelligence is quite good (obviously Chirac and Villepin are not privy to their findings). It is the leadership in France that are ruining it. My hope is that this sun-burn peels the socialists off.

This isn't actually a bad thing for those Frenchmen who have courage. They soon will be in great demand.

Thx again for your good work in keeping these threads current.

[Dark Skies]

Freddie speechless...cat must have your tongue.

[grey_whiskers]

You can't blame the youth
You can't fool the youth
You can't blame the youth of today

Someone ought to cue up Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire

Full Disclosure: Not that I approve of any of his music or lyrics.

[Fred Nerks]

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17176801-5001021,00.html

[snowsislander]

Isn't it amazing that Appalachian people live in rough conditions and we don't hear about the Appalachian people erupting in violence?

Oddly enough, Appalachia was the site of the biggest uprising since the Draft Riots of the Civil War. See, for instance, The Battle of Blair Mountain: The Story of America's Largest Labor Uprising or http://www.matewan.com/History/battle.htm (though it is arguable that there more miners involved in the 1914 Colorado labor troubles.)

[July 4th]

Check this out:

The 1955 emergency powers law that they're going to invoke on Tuesday was actually written in order to quell the Muslim uprising in Algeria! More here.

[Spktyr]

A good choice, but for those of us that live in a city, the shotgun rules the ranges at which urban combat occurs.

I'm an advocate of the combat shotgun - semiauto, detachable magazine.

[omega4179]

its just disaffected yutes nothing to see here, no religious overtones

[LikeLight]

November 7, 2005 (excerpted)


CYBER-RIOTING IN FRANCE

"We Aren't Going to Let Up! Are You Stupid?"

By Kim Rahir in Paris

The riots in France are spreading -- and not just to cities across the country. An intense debate is also taking place on the Internet. Many are horrified by the riots. Others are planning them.

Official Paris is in an uproar...

But the real debate about the nightly riots is taking place far from the halls of power. It's taking place on the Internet...

The messages are mostly written in chat jargon full of abbreviations and grammatical errors. "May Allah lead you into Paradise," reads one message addressed to the two boys...

But almost as soon as the riots started in the neighborhood of Clichy-sous-Bois, other messages of solidarity quickly followed. "Thank you Clichy! Montfermeil is with you," read one. Another read simply, "Courage Sevran, we are with you," when that neighborhood became the target of rioting.

Photos soon joined the messages, many of them showing burning cars and police officers chasing down rioters. Not all of it was to the liking of the providers -- the blog www.bouns93.skyblog.com was quickly blocked, "because the rules weren't respected."

On the Internet, though, there are other, more ominous voices to be found. One entry, for example, from the provocatively-named "pureporc," is filled with anti-Islamic and racist insults. The next entry in the list reads simply, "Are we actually in France?"

But just as the Internet has proven useful to those wanting to vent their frustration and anger at the violence enveloping France, others -- those involved in the violence -- have found the Internet a useful organizational tool. Plans for further attacks have made their appearances in different blogs -- like that from "Brahim." "Nice work people," he writes. "The cops are petrified of us, everything must burn, starting Monday, the operation 'Midnight Sun' starts, tell everyone else, rendezvous for Momo and Abdul in Zone 4 ... jihad Islamia Allah Akhbar."

User "Samir's" message is just as threatening. "You don't really think that we're going to stop now? Are you stupid? It will continue, non-stop. We aren't going to let up. The French won't do anything and soon, we will be in the majority here."


http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,383682,00.html

[LikeLight]

Another perp image...

[Vicomte13]

"Stop.
You are incorrect. I am a Texan. Try it."

I didn't say you wouldn't shoot.
But if you did, your Texas justice system would prosecute you for it.

[stripes1776]

Actually, I'm rather enjoying this, watching the French wring their hands & blather about how to stop it and what caused it

I must admit, when the riots began I felt vindicated. I have had several heated arguments with Europeans over the past two years about the situation in France. When I suggested that Muslims in the French suburbs would be rioting soon, these Europeans dismissed me as an ignorant fool.

But at this point I feel only sadness. A great nation and culture that has given so much to Europe and the world in the fields of science, mathematics, philosopy, theology, political theory, the arts and literature is coming to an end. There is nothing now that can save France from its downward spiral into decadence and disintegration.

[Spktyr]

Even American law is far, far from that. Put three bullets into the back of a man burning your car, and you will go to prison for years and years, even in Texas. The Anglo-Saxon Common Law does not prescribe the death penalty for destruction of property, and it does not let people kill other people in defense of property, only in defense of life. I do not speak of the law in France (although it is the same). I speak of the law in El Paso, Texas, and Montgomery, Alabama.

Wrong. I suggest you review Texas law - it not only permits you to shoot people for simple vandalism at night, it also allows you to shoot *to kill* at any time to prevent any felony (say, arson of a motor vehicle). We are also permitted to shoot in defense of another's property, not just our own. The state will even compensate us for ammunition expended through the Crime Victims' Fund.

In addition, Texas law governing riots and states of emergency suspend most of those restrictions. If the governor declares a state of emergency, it is *automatically* open season on looters and rioters, no questions asked. You loot, we get to shoot.

This perhaps explains why 1) we just don't have many riots in Texas, 2) there was almost no looting after Hurricane Rita came in and trashed Beaumont and other Texas Gulf Coast cities [looter season was tragically short this year], and 3) we don't have much crime in the night. Heck, we don't have many crimes in Texas, period.