Scores Of Paris Police Injured In Riots
At Least 77 Hurt, Shots Fired, Molotov Cocktails Hurled At Cops As Youths Rampage
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Young residents of Villiers-le-Bel, a northern Paris suburb, vandalize an abandoned police car during clashes late Monday, Nov. 26, 2007. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
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Policemen patrol as cars burn in Villiers-Le-Bel, north of Paris, Nov. 25, 2007. Young people rioted in a violent reaction upon the death of two young people whose motorbike crashed into a police car. (Getty Images/AFP/Martin Bureau)
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Policemen and a young resident stand by the wreckage of a motorbike in Villiers-le-bel, late Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007. Rumors that police caused the accident, and had left two teenage passengers to die, prompted a wave of violence in the northern Paris suburb. (AP Photo/Michael Sawyer)
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The wreckage of the police patrol car which collided with a motorbike, in Villiers-le-bel, late Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007. Dozens of youths pelted a police station in the nearby suburb of Sarcelles with Molotov cocktails Sunday, following the accident that left two teenagers dead. (AP Photo/Michael Sawyer)
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A policeman inspects the broken door of a bank agency on Nov. 26, 2007. the day after it was attacked by rioters. (Getty Images/Francois Guillot)
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The violence was more intense than during three weeks of rioting in 2005, said the official, Patrice Ribeiro. Police were shot at and are facing "genuine urban guerillas with conventional weapons and hunting weapons," Ribeiro said.
Some officers were hit by shotgun pellets, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said. She said there were six serious injuries, "people who notably were struck in the face and close to the eyes."
The riots were triggered by the deaths of two teens killed in a crash with a police patrol car on Sunday in Villiers-le-Bel, a town of public housing blocks home to a mix of Arab, black and white residents in Paris' northern suburbs.
Residents claimed that officers left the crash scene without helping the teens, whose motorbike collided with the car. Officials cast doubt on the claim, but the internal police oversight agency was investigating.
Youths first rioted Sunday and again overnight Monday to Tuesday, when the violence apparently got worse.
Police barricades were set on fire and youths threw stones and Molotov cocktails at officers, who retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets. In Villiers-le-Bel and surrounding areas, youths set fire to 36 vehicles, the area's prefecture said.
Youths were seen firing buckshot at police and reporters. A police union official said a round from a hunting rifle pierced the body armor of one officer who suffered a serious shoulder wound.
Among the buildings targeted by the youths was a library, which was set afire.
In Sunday's violence, eight people were arrested and 20 police officers were injured - including the town's police chief, who was attacked in the face when he tried to negotiate with the rioters, police said. One firefighter also was injured.
Residents drew parallels to the 2005 riots, which were prompted by the deaths of two teens electrocuted in a power substation while hiding from police in a suburb northeast of Paris.
A recent study by the state auditor's office indicated that money poured into poor French suburbs in recent decades had done little to solve problems vividly exposed by the 2005 riots, including discrimination, unemployment and alienation from mainstream society.
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- *lets hope that this violence ends quickly*
I hope it does but do not expect it too. They sowed the seeds of civil unrest long ago, then watered and fertilized them.
We have sown ours and are busy watering and fertilizing them too.
Choices always have consequences even though politicians promise they don''t. Only idiots believe otherwise. - Reply to this comment
- This is ridiculous. France is in trouble and you guys on here are talking about our political system here in the U.S. France is our best ally,the people of France are our people, lets hope that this violence ends quickly.
- Reply to this comment
- dogsoul France has been electing a conservative to office for a while now. Explain that one please, god sometime you political players are so dense.
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Posted by antoniof123 at 09:24 AM : Nov 27, 2007
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for a while now???? since when was that..
France is heavy liberal nation who just just elected a conservative to replace a liberal president. You really dont think that liberalism in france ended when chirac stepped down..do you? - Reply to this comment
- So they are "youths" are they? Were they children? Try Muslims........ Who once again were offended.
- Reply to this comment
- dogsoul France has been electing a conservative to office for a while now. Explain that one please, god sometime you political players are so dense.
- Reply to this comment
- ...huh? How could this POSSIBLY happen in the liberal paradise of France? Are they suggesting that the warm inviting bussom of socialism does NOT result in a better society?
The French are funny... go the liberal route of entitlements, can''t fire anyone, socialized medicine etc... and when everything ends up stagnating in a bureaucratic wasted mess with low employment, poor quality of life, and suffering.... they freak out when the country tries to loosen up the liberal restrictions which created this mess in the first place...
That being said, I think the cops should burn down all the public housing & shoot the rioters on site - with lead this time... - Reply to this comment
