Political Crossfire Forums

[John Galt]

French urban violence worsens: 1,300 cars torched, 300 arrests

Arsonists torched 1,300 cars and police arrested 300 people across France as the urban violence which has rocked the country for 10 nights reached a new peak.

Police deployed helicopters and stepped up their arrests of youths responsible for the street violence, as troubles flared for the 10th consecutive night in suburbs around Paris on Saturday and spread to other French cities.

Copycat arson attacks hit the outskirts of Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpellier and Pau in the south, Rennes and Nantes in the west, Lille in the north and Mulhouse and Colmar in the east.

The disorder also spilled into central Paris itself, where a petrol bomb set alight four cars near a major square, Place de la Republique, while half a dozen vehicles went up in smoke in the northwest 17th arrondissement, or district.

Despite calls for calm Saturday, 1,295 cars were torched overnight compared with 897 the previous night, while arrests totalled 312 up from 253.

Seven police helicopters fitted with powerful lights and cameras flew over Paris and some of the other cities in an effort to pursue and identify the youths, who have taken to setting fires then racing away, often on scooters.

Riot squads also broke down doors in a public housing estate in the western Paris suburb of Les Mureaux to arrest youths who had thrown objects, such as supermarket trollies, on them and on a nearby busy road.

Some 2,300 more police than normal were on the streets while additional firefighters were sent to the Paris region.

Most night bus services north and east of the capital were suspended overnight Saturday as a precautionary measure against ambushes which have seen at least two buses set fire to and destroyed.

Two people were slightly injured and 100 evacuated when an immigrants' hostel went up in flames at Athis-Mons west of Paris. Several other properties suffered fire damage elsewhere, including a McDonald's, two schools and a gym outside the capital.

In the western suburb of Evreux, four policemen were injured in clashes with a hundred youths, some armed with baseball bats, while dozens of cars and three shops were set ablaze and Molotov cocktails were thrown at a school, according to police and fire crews.

Violence also spread to the central Loire region, with fires started in Orleans, Montargis and Blois.

In the outskirts of Bordeaux, 25 cars were torched and nine people arrested as disorder spread to nearby towns.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who visited a police command headquarters at Evry in southern Paris overnight, has said that the gangs responsible for the violence have become increasingly organised. They have been seen using mobile telephones to relay police movements and Internet blogs to urge unrest elsewhere.

Teenagers arrested in nearby Courcouronnes -- where police found a stockpile of crowbars, petrol bombs and iron bars -- were sheepish when approached by the minister, who has come under fire for his handling of the crisis.

"You're not very happy that your dad is coming to get you, are you?" Sarkozy asked one boy who shook his head but said his father knew he had been out.

Just before the riots erupted, Sarkozy had described delinquents in the suburbs "rabble" and vowed to clean up crime in the neighbourhoods "with a power-hose" -- comments that have angered people living in those areas.

Around 800 people have been arrested since the riots began, some of them minors. In all, more than 2,700 automobiles have gone up in flames.

"We have the government totally mobilised," a junior social affairs minister, Catherine Vautrin, told LCI television.

She added that President Jacques Chirac was coordinating with Sarkozy and her boss, Employment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo.

But the leader of the opposition Socialists, Francois Hollande, told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper that "it's the whole of the government's policies and the president of the republic that are responsible" for the conflagration.

He said that Sarkozy, who hopes to become president in 2007 elections, "carries a large part of the responsibility" for his hardline law-and-order rhetoric.

The violence was sparked on October 27 when two teenagers, one of African and the other of Arab origin, were electrocuted while hiding in an electrical sub-station after fleeing a police identity check.

So far no one has been killed in the ensuing unrest, although at least two people have been badly burnt by Molotov cocktails: a fireman, and a handicapped woman unable to get off an ambushed bus. A 61-year-old was also in a coma after being hit by an assailant in a public housing estate.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/051106/1/3w86l.html

[alex.rj.martin]

could someone PLEASE explain to me wf is going on in France...WHY are these riots happening? What are they rioting for? What cause? I was away in an isolated part of Mongolia when it happened so i missed how this whole thing started...

[Poon]

alex.rj.martin wrote: could someone PLEASE explain to me wf is going on in France...WHY are these riots happening? What are they rioting for? What cause? I was away in an isolated part of Mongolia when it happened so i missed how this whole thing started... Are you serious about that?! If you bothered to read the article, apparently the riots were sparked by this:

Quote: The violence was sparked on October 27 when two teenagers, one of African and the other of Arab origin, were electrocuted while hiding in an electrical sub-station after fleeing a police identity check.

[conservative_student]

The French government criticizes the US policy about Muslim extremists but is cowering in there boots about the problems that they have in the same department. They need to put the entire country on lock down with includes closing the borders, putting the Army on every street and enforcing a curfew from sun down to sun up.
Any person on the streets after dark will be shot and any citizen preaching to the youth to keep the uprising up, will be arrested and if they are foreign citizens they will be deported.
The bleeding must be stopped before the wound can heel.

[Teshuvah]

alex.rj.martin wrote: could someone PLEASE explain to me wf is going on in France...WHY are these riots happening? What are they rioting for? What cause? I was away in an isolated part of Mongolia when it happened so i missed how this whole thing started...


The youths being electrocuted was merely the straw that broke the camels back.


There is massive unemployment in Frances minority sections. Their minorities have LONGSTANDING feelings as second rate citizens.

It's all social unrest, not uncommon to any country in the world.

[cap'n queasy]

Teshuvah wrote: alex.rj.martin wrote: could someone PLEASE explain to me wf is going on in France...WHY are these riots happening? What are they rioting for? What cause? I was away in an isolated part of Mongolia when it happened so i missed how this whole thing started...


The youths being electrocuted was merely the straw that broke the camels back.


There is massive unemployment in Frances minority sections. Their minorities have LONGSTANDING feelings as second rate citizens.

It's all social unrest, not uncommon to any country in the world.

You would think it would be uncommon in a Socialist country. Apparently not.

[Teshuvah]

That is true. Especially one that prides its self in such matters as France does (I have no idea why).

Alas, they are wrong.

[Jufarius87]

conservative_student wrote: The French government criticizes the US policy about Muslim extremists but is cowering in there boots about the problems that they have in the same department. They need to put the entire country on lock down with includes closing the borders, putting the Army on every street and enforcing a curfew from sun down to sun up.
Any person on the streets after dark will be shot and any citizen preaching to the youth to keep the uprising up, will be arrested and if they are foreign citizens they will be deported.
The bleeding must be stopped before the wound can heel.


true, but at the same time the extremists have more legitamate grounds for their attacks in france, france is extremely hostile to religous representation(they have banned crosses and certain muslim clothing from public places), the more secular they become the more people of faith will fight them,

[dougbrown]

Quote: true, but at the same time the extremists have more legitamate grounds for their attacks in france, france is extremely hostile to religous representation(they have banned crosses and certain muslim clothing from public places), the more secular they become the more people of faith will fight them,

Of course, France has a long history of Revolutions... maybe we're seeing the beginnings of radical social change in France, and not simply momentary "social unrest." I notice today that some of the rioters have graduated to shotguns, and that's in a country with some of the strictest gun control laws in the EU.

Doug Brown.

[alex.rj.martin]

Danpt2000 wrote: alex.rj.martin wrote: could someone PLEASE explain to me wf is going on in France...WHY are these riots happening? What are they rioting for? What cause? I was away in an isolated part of Mongolia when it happened so i missed how this whole thing started... Are you serious about that?! If you bothered to read the article, apparently the riots were sparked by this:

Quote: The violence was sparked on October 27 when two teenagers, one of African and the other of Arab origin, were electrocuted while hiding in an electrical sub-station after fleeing a police identity check.

Thank you. I did in fact read the article. I know there were two teenagers electrocuted. what i wanted to knw is why this sparked riots. I now know thanks to the other member (e.g. Teshuvah) explaining about long rising tensions in minorites. Thank you all.

[cap'n queasy]

It's not just minorities rioting.

[Poon]

alex.rj.martin wrote: Danpt2000 wrote: alex.rj.martin wrote: could someone PLEASE explain to me wf is going on in France...WHY are these riots happening? What are they rioting for? What cause? I was away in an isolated part of Mongolia when it happened so i missed how this whole thing started... Are you serious about that?! If you bothered to read the article, apparently the riots were sparked by this:

Quote: The violence was sparked on October 27 when two teenagers, one of African and the other of Arab origin, were electrocuted while hiding in an electrical sub-station after fleeing a police identity check.

Thank you. I did in fact read the article. I know there were two teenagers electrocuted. what i wanted to knw is why this sparked riots. I now know thanks to the other member (e.g. Teshuvah) explaining about long rising tensions in minorites. Thank you all. I was not surprised by the fact that you were asking about the riots. When I said "Are you serious about that?" I meant I was actually impressed that you were trekking away in Mongolia. Just wanted to let you know...

[sfcwoodret]

Pres. Chirac needs something to occupy his mind for a while. :lol:

[A0220R]

cap'n queasy wrote:

You would think it would be uncommon in a Socialist country. Apparently not.

France is not a socialist country. It would probably be better off with the socialist party in control rather than Chirac's UMP which is a right-wing conservative party that hasn't done much at all for france. It could follow Spain's example.

Regardless, the socialist party in many countries no longer intends to turn the country socialist. They are just more in favour of worker's rights, class equality, etc. They would try to lower poverty and close the gap between rich and poor. I find no problem with that.

[Ashton Whithers]

Putting the army on the streets would not stop the bleeding, it would turn it into a cancer. The last thing the French government should do is give credence to the idea of themselves as oppressors. In fact, the social tensions that are causing this are as Jufarius said, due in part to religious oppression and racial segregation. The best thing for France to do now is permit free religious expression, placate the masses to take their public support, then systematically and covertly hunt the ultraradicals that continue to create unrest.

[mrster]

conservative_student wrote: The French government criticizes the US policy about Muslim extremists but is cowering in there boots about the problems that they have in the same department. They need to put the entire country on lock down with includes closing the borders, putting the Army on every street and enforcing a curfew from sun down to sun up.
Any person on the streets after dark will be shot and any citizen preaching to the youth to keep the uprising up, will be arrested and if they are foreign citizens they will be deported.
The bleeding must be stopped before the wound can heel.


The poster of this message should be shot. Conservative student is right, a little more education and he'll have the whole 'shoot to kill' thing just down pat!

[sfcwoodret]

France is just reaping what they have been sowing for years!

[Tokenconservative]

mrster wrote: conservative_student wrote: The French government criticizes the US policy about Muslim extremists but is cowering in there boots about the problems that they have in the same department. They need to put the entire country on lock down with includes closing the borders, putting the Army on every street and enforcing a curfew from sun down to sun up.
Any person on the streets after dark will be shot and any citizen preaching to the youth to keep the uprising up, will be arrested and if they are foreign citizens they will be deported.
The bleeding must be stopped before the wound can heel.


The poster of this message should be shot. Conservative student is right, a little more education and he'll have the whole 'shoot to kill' thing just down pat!

Of course he should be shot....that's a sound, liberal perspective. Anyone who disagrees with the libbie position, especially the one that demands that dissenting opinions are not allowed, should be shot.

Tokie

[Akajjred]

I don't get it...why move to a foreign country if you don't have an interest in adopting the culture? I mean for a job or money is one thing, but when people act like they are back in their former country it kind of pisses me off. Show the country some respect and accept the culture, otherwise DON'T MOVE THERE.

[alex.rj.martin]

Danpt2000 wrote: alex.rj.martin wrote: Danpt2000 wrote: alex.rj.martin wrote: could someone PLEASE explain to me wf is going on in France...WHY are these riots happening? What are they rioting for? What cause? I was away in an isolated part of Mongolia when it happened so i missed how this whole thing started... Are you serious about that?! If you bothered to read the article, apparently the riots were sparked by this:

Quote: The violence was sparked on October 27 when two teenagers, one of African and the other of Arab origin, were electrocuted while hiding in an electrical sub-station after fleeing a police identity check.

Thank you. I did in fact read the article. I know there were two teenagers electrocuted. what i wanted to knw is why this sparked riots. I now know thanks to the other member (e.g. Teshuvah) explaining about long rising tensions in minorites. Thank you all. I was not surprised by the fact that you were asking about the riots. When I said "Are you serious about that?" I meant I was actually impressed that you were trekking away in Mongolia. Just wanted to let you know...

Beg your pardon mate. You're quite right. Apologies for the sarcasm before!