French Riots in Paris Suburbs Spread; Cars, Library Torched
By Helene Fouquet and Gregory Viscusi
Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Youths fought police for a second night in suburbs north of Paris last night, injuring more than 70 officers, as unrest triggered by the death of two teenagers spread.
Youngsters threw stones and Molotov cocktails, burning shops, vehicles, a school, a library and a tax office; police fired teargas and rubber bullets in response. Six officers were hit by gunfire, the Val d'Oise department law enforcement authorities said. Six youths were arrested and three policemen hospitalized, police said yesterday.
The violence broke out three days ago when a 15- and a 16- year-old died after their motorcycle collided with a police car. It's the most serious unrest since 2005 when riots on the outskirts of French cities lasted three weeks. The 2005 clashes started after two boys in Clichy-sous-Bois near Paris were electrocuted in an electricity substation where they were hiding from police.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on a state visit to China, called for calm. ``We must let the judiciary determine the responsibilities of all,'' he said. Prime Minister Francois Fillon telephoned the parents of the dead boys, his office said, and then visited wounded policemen.
Sarkozy Visit
Sarkozy will visit police and firemen who have been injured immediately on his return from Beijing at 7:30 a.m. today, Elysee Palace spokesman David Martinon said in a statement. The president will then receive the mayor of Villiers-le-Bel, where the violence started, before convening a security cabinet meeting including Fillon, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and Justice Minister Rachida Dati, Martinon said.
Didier Vaillant, the socialist mayor of Villiers-le-Bel, made a televised appeal for parents to keep their teenagers at home last night.
Alliot-Marie said in an interview on the France 2 television channel that the police presence in the area would be stronger last night. ``Our goal is to impose calm and to arrest these dangerous individuals who shoot at police.''
The violence spread to the city of Toulouse in southern France yesterday evening, where a library and several cars were set on fire, Agence France-Presse reported.
In 2005, Sarkozy, who was then interior minister, defended police, saying they had not been chasing the boys who were electrocuted. It later turned out the boys had been running from police. Sarkozy made several night-time visits to the suburbs to be filmed with riot police after making comments which youths living in housing projects said stigmatized them.
Housing Projects
In France, poor neighborhoods and housing projects where many immigrants live tend to be far from city centers.
``A few hundred youths, organized in small groups and pushed by a desire to fight with the authorities, committed numerous offenses and violent acts against police officers,'' the Val d'Oise police said of the previous night's clashes.
The boys killed in the Nov. 25 accident, whose names were given by French newspapers as Laramy and Moushim, came from Villiers-le-Bel, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the capital. Violence spread to the nearby towns of Grigny, Cergy, Ermont, Gonesse, Goussainville and Garges-les-Gonesse, in the Val d'Oise department, or county, officials said.
``The population in these towns should help us isolate these delinquents,'' Interior Minister Alliot-Marie told RTL radio. She called the use of guns ``worrying.'' She visited Villiers-le-Bel yesterday after talks with police labor unions.
Police Casualties
Patrick Ribeiro, the head of Synergie union, put the number of police casualties higher than the official figures. He said 77 officers were injured last night and that most rioters are under 18.
``It's much more violent than in 2005,'' Ribeiro said in a telephone interview. ``They've shot at us with handguns and hunting rifles. If our officers have to protect their lives, they may have to shoot and that's not what we want.''
Marie-Therese de Givry, the Val d'Oise state prosecutor, told LCI all-news television that an initial inquiry showed the original accident wasn't the fault of police.
The boys weren't wearing helmets, their motorcycle entered the road from the left and they didn't respect the police car's priority, she said. The bike was in its highest gear, suggesting it was traveling at high speed.
Residents interviewed on television said the police gave only cursory help to the accident victims.
De Givry said the police called an ambulance which arrived within 10 minutes of the collision. Investigators are studying tapes to pin down the exact timing, she said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net ; Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net |
