Air Force Cane Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Wake up euroweenies!! PARIS - Dozens of vehicles were set ablaze in a sixth night of rioting in poor Paris suburbs, officials said on Wednesday, as youth unrest caused mounting strains within France’s conservative government. A heavy police presence kept a tense order in Clichy-sous-Bois, where the clashes broke out last week after two teenagers of African origin were electrocuted while apparently fleeing the police. But the street fighting spread to other parts of the poor suburbs ringing the eastern side of the capital, police said. A total of 34 people were detained by police overnight, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told Europe 1 radio. Strains appear within government Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin urged a return to calm on Tuesday evening after meeting families of the two youths along with Sarkozy, his main political rival now under heavy fire for his tough line against the rioters. Squabbling broke out within Villepin’s government when Equal Opportunities Minister Azouz Begag openly criticized Sarkozy for calling the protesting youths “scum.” “I talk with real words,” Sarkozy fired back in an interview in the daily Le Parisien. “When someone shoots at policemen, he’s not just a ‘youth’, he’s a lout, full stop.” Villepin delayed for several hours his planned departure for for a visit to Canada on Wednesday, officials said, and French media reported President Jacques Chirac was expected to make a statement about the unrest at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Tear gas attack The unrest in the eastern suburbs, heavily populated by North African and black African minorities, was sparked by youths’ frustration at their failure to get jobs and recognition in French society. A tear gas attack on a mosque further inflamed emotions. Villepin and Sarkozy are locked in an increasingly tense battle to lead the right in the 2007 presidential election. The opposition Socialists have denounced Sarkozy’s policies. “Perhaps it is up to the prime minister to step in, to put slightly to one side this excited interior minister,” Socialist Party National Secretary Malek Boutih told i-television. Sarkozy promised on Monday to put more police on the streets as part of his “zero tolerance” policy toward violence. The Clichy unrest was the latest in a series of incidents in the Paris suburbs that have attracted the attention of Sarkozy and become the target of his vow to get tough on crime. In June, an 11-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet in the northern area of La Courneuve. The eastern suburb of Vitry-sur-Seine made headlines in 2002 when a 17-year-old girl was set alight by an 18-year-old boy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 These seem more like Race Riots similar to post- Rodney King LA than "Muslim" riots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.