Free Republic

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. 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.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday that the riots in several Paris suburbs over the previous night were "not spontaneous" but rather "well organized." "What we saw in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis overnight was not spontaneous, it was perfectly organized. We are looking into by whom and how," Sarkozy told French news channel i-tele. The interior minister also said the government would not allow "troublemakers, a bunch of hoodlums, think they can do whatever they want" in the country. A force of 1,000 police were assigned late Thursday to Seine-Saint-Denis, following the previous night of violence which affected about...

Nov. 15, 2003 Arsonists torch Jewish school near Paris By MICHEL ZLOTOWSKI Jewish school destroyed by a fire early Saturday in Gagny, north of Paris Photo: AP Fire gutted the Merkaz HaTorah Jewish secondary school in the Paris suburb of Gagny in the Seine-Saint-Denis region Saturday morning at 3am. There were no injuries. Fire started simultaneously in two separate places on the first floor of the school where works were under way. A primary school and a kindergarten for 200 children were to be inaugurated there in January 2004. The arsonist or arsonists broke into the building through a ground...