Posted on 03/27/2007 7:22:30 PM PDT by Islander7
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, and officials said seven people were arrested. ADVERTISEMENT
Officers and police dogs charged at groups of marauding youths, some of them wearing hoods, who mingled with commuters and travelers at the Gare du Nord — one of Paris' most important transport hubs.
Some of the youths threw trash cans and other objects at the officers, who responded by firing tear gas.
One woman was evacuated by paramedics for inhalation of tear gas.
The clashes began in midafternoon, and 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.
They started after a man without a Metro ticket punched two inspectors during a routine ticket check, said officials from Paris' RATP public transport authority. 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.
A standoff ensued between officers and some 100 youths.
French TV didn't mention that the man who started it all was of North African origin.
Sounds like it is Spring 'Break' time again in France. Hopefully it will remind the public why they should vote for Sarkozy.
The original news break said that they were muslim and african youths that were tired of poor conditions.
Yup, early reports said they were Moslem youths from the suburbs.
Thank you! That is why I watch FOX. They are more likely to tell the whole story.
Sarko stepped down from his post as Interior Minister on Monday. This is exactly the kind of event that can turn an election.
The Police, afraid of the repurcussions for dealing harshly with the offending "yoots", will send a strong message to the French people.
Paris is a magnificent city, the most beautiful city in the world. To allow these vandals and barbarians to destroy the quality of life for decent hardworking people creates a situation that demands a strong Law and Order response.
From the looks of this crowd it's the same types as rioted before (Moroccan Muslims) mixed with the native French wannabe tough-guys making common cause with the Muslims.
A match made in Heaven. May they all get deported or painfully shot with rubber bullets or choke on tear gas, especially the looters. I hope this helps Sarkozy get elected.
Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen blurred
out faces in news photos ever before... What's up with that?
Is this news or not?
In fact, I think that this is a case where "the medium
is the message". In other words, the ostensible
news story is the "rioting of the youts", but the
more important story is with this blurring -- it's
almost like the death of true journalism. The only
thing left is to give them a Pulitzer :)
Heinekens for everybunny ! ;-D
That's why I said "a hell of a lot closer". It's still a bit of a walk up from the Ile de France, but not too far.
I had a layover in de Gaulle airport once. Why can't the "youths" torch that place?
Apparently, though, their city planners are confused by right angles.
Do you think that this might have been preplanned to try to turn the election, or are the "yoots" on such a hair trigger?
The pixelized face makes it hard to be sure, but I figured Looter Guy had to be there somewhere... The tub'o'Heinies confirms the ID for me...
I was gonna say, "hey, that looks just like the Katrina picture with the guy holding a plastic tub full of Heineken bottles" (as he waded through waist high water, then I realized you have Photoshop.
Good one, more subtle than most.
It was just too logistically difficult to get everyone to sign a waiver for the news photo.
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