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Is Paris Burning … Again?

Oui, avec voler de balles: 77 cops injured, rioters firing shotguns and in at least one case a rifle.   

VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France (AFP) — Youths battled police for a second night in the Paris suburbs, burning down government buildings and injuring more than 70 officers, forcing tighter security in the troubled towns.

The rioting in six neighbourhoods north of the French capital — which were also the scene of major unrest in 2005 — was sparked by the deaths on Sunday of two teenagers whose motorbike collided with a police car in Villiers-le-Bel.

In Villiers, about 100 youths, crouching behind trash cans, hurled objects at 160 riot police who fired rubber bullets and tear gas.

Young rioters in the nearby towns of Sarcelles, Garges-les-Gonesse, Cergy, Ermont and Goussainville were armed with petrol bombs, bottles filled with acid and baseball bats, police said.

The riots lasted about six hours and continued into the early hours of Tuesday.

After the suburban battleground cleared, a helicopter hovered over Villiers, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Paris, looking for potential troublemakers.

Police said Tuesday that of the more than 70 officers injured in the latest clashes five were in critical condition. “One policeman was wounded in the shoulder after being hit by a high-calibre bullet,” a security official said.

Some 63 vehicles and five buildings had been torched and a bus, which had no passengers on board, and a truck were set alight in districts near Villiers, police said.

Police said six people were arrested.

Bruno Beschizza of the police union Synergie said the violence was “worse than in the riots of 2005″ — which were also triggered by the deaths of two youths in the northern Paris suburbs.

Officers were “confronted with scenes of real urban guerilla warfare. Things have gone to a new level with the use of weapons including a hunting rifle. Petrol bombs have become the norm, and now we’ve got this new element to take into account,” he said.

“We are getting close to a catastrophe with the use of firearms against police,” said another police union UNSA.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is in China, has appealed for calm and on Tuesday spoke by telephone to Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, the Elysee palace said.

I thought Sarkozy was all tough on crime. He may want to appeal to the cops to start breaking heads and taking names.  Or shooting back.  He could ask his Chinese pals how its done. 

Gateway has the art and a roundup.

Eagerly awaiting a report from everyone’s favorite Frogman, whose been busy upgrading his site, buying guns, and exercising his Gallic sense of annoyance on l’anti-Americanistes.

Topics: France

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:23 am on Tuesday, November 27, 2007

7 Responses to “Is Paris Burning … Again?”

1. War in France « The Van Der Galiën Gazette Says:
   November 27th, 2007 at 10:47 am

   […] a couple of weeks ago when Dutch immigrant youths were rioting: if they want war, give it to them. Jules Crittenden seems to share my view, with the difference that he’s already going after Sarkozy. In case you forgot: Sarkozy is […]

2. El Cid Says:
   November 27th, 2007 at 11:27 am

   Oui, avec voler de balles:

   Have NO damn idea what that means…BUT
   is it relative to this ?

3. RebeccaH Says:
   November 27th, 2007 at 11:53 am

   These aren’t just “youths” having fun. They’re thugs, out to terrorize the country and force yet more concessions for their political masters. The deaths of two moped-thieves is just an excuse to rile up the banlieus.

   If the French don’t get tough and get control of this now, they never will.

4. tanstaafl Says:
   November 27th, 2007 at 12:06 pm

   — was sparked by the deaths on Sunday of two teenagers whose motorbike collided with a police car in Villiers-le-Bel.

   As far as I have read, the vehicle the youths were riding was illegally being operated on the streets.

   I am reminded of the “any excuse for a riot” mentality that characterized some incidents in LA during those riots.

   Sarkozy (who was elected partly on his “strong stance against crime” position) is just coming off the transit strike, why not hit him with more chaos in the streets ?

   I agree it smells like orchestration of more chaos in the cités, from those disgruntled inhabitants of the suburbs of many French towns and cities.

5. MikeH Says:
   November 27th, 2007 at 7:58 pm

   C’est la guerre.

6. Vanguard of the Commentariat Says:
   November 27th, 2007 at 9:42 pm

   I notice the “youths” don’t try that crap in say, Germany, where I’m sure they still have some folks who remember how to deal with such behavior.

7. PoliGazette » War in France Says:
   November 29th, 2007 at 3:25 pm

   […] a couple of weeks ago when Dutch immigrant youths were rioting: if they want war, give it to them. Jules Crittenden seems to share my view, with the difference that he’s already going after Sarkozy. In case you forgot: Sarkozy is […]

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