Sunday, November 06, 2005
Ils sont fous ces Français!
Violence in Mar Del Plata, as the protesters against Dubya got roughed up a tad - now, that was to be expected. But the French populace's reaction to an unfortunate accident - especially one involving two flimsy teeny-weeny brainless kids who should have known better... and the ever perennial police brutality (...) - well now that boggles the mind. The French have always been known as a people of extremes of course - they had their *Révolution*, capped off with chopping off the heads of their King and Queen (hardly royalty they were at all - but then, look at royals today... no, not the Kansas City Royals...). But then, when came time to really show some backbone and fight -when the Nazis marched into Paris- nothing happened!!! It was *Paris, Ville Ouverte* (a fitter name and title for it, one must admit, than "La Ville Lumière"...). And now, without any threat to speak of really -and not much of a cause either- the French are up in arms... and staging a mini-civil war again. "Paris est à feu et à sang"... Truly, they have reinvented how to overreact here... And poor me, when I first heard any rumblings of the ruckus in the land of *les Champs-Élysées*, I was certain it was mild protest and vandalization over the fact that, once again, film producers found that no French comedic actor was good enough to portray *Inspector Clouseau* - and especially that the part had been attributed to one execrable scoundrel; Steve Martin! That seemed impossible to me though - not for the exaggerated form the "protest" took (for the French seem capable of just about anything) but truly because it would have been too tardy a reaction, I think, to a *fait accompli*, since the new Pink Panther movie is in an advanced stage of filming already... (And it will be as memorable as the one time when... -Alan Arkin- played the role... Martin can be a fit successor to Arkin; but never to Peter Sellers. Then again, Martin was not even a fit successor to Phil Silvers as *Sgt. Bilko*... but that is another story.).
Let's hope the French calm down - their excessive violence will not result in anything close to "the change" they want to bring about in their society... Only more unnecessary deaths will come out of it. *Enfer et damnation* - can't they see that? Sacrebleu... qu'ils sont aveugles...
Let's hope the French calm down - their excessive violence will not result in anything close to "the change" they want to bring about in their society... Only more unnecessary deaths will come out of it. *Enfer et damnation* - can't they see that? Sacrebleu... qu'ils sont aveugles...
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Freshly prickled from the news...
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Unrest Reaches Paris; 13 Cars Torched
Nov 5, 11:49 PM (ET)
By ELAINE GANLEY
PARIS (AP) - The urban unrest that triggered scores of arson attacks on vehicles, nursery schools and other targets from the Mediterranean to the German border reached Paris overnight, with police saying early Sunday that 13 cars were burned in the French capital.
By 1 a.m., at least 607 vehicles - including those in Paris - were burned during the 10th night of violence, said Patrick Hamon, spokesman for the national police. The overall figures were expected to climb by daybreak, he added.
The violence - originally concentrated in neighborhoods northeast of Paris with large immigrant populations - has spread across France, extending west to the rolling fields of Normandy and south to resort cities on the Mediterranean. Attacks were reported in Cannes and Nice.
In the Normandy town of Evreux, arsonists burned at least 50 vehicles, part of a shopping center, a post office and two schools, Hamon said.
Five police officers and three firefighters were injured battling the blazes, he said.
The unrest is forcing France to confront long-simmering anger in its suburbs, where many Africans and their French-born children live on society's margins, struggling with unemployment, poor housing, racial discrimination, crime and a lack of opportunity.
Police deployed a helicopter and tactical teams to chase down youths speeding from one attack to another in cars and on motorbikes. Some 2,300 police were brought into the Paris region to bolster security, France-Info said. More than 250 people were arrested.
The violence erupted Oct. 27 following the accidental electrocution of two teenagers who hid in a power substation, apparently believing police were chasing them.
The anger spread to the Internet, with blogs mourning the youths.
(AP) A firefighter extinguishes a car in "Les Musicians" housing complex of Les Mureaux, north west of Paris...
Along with messages of condolence and appeals for calm were insults targeting police, threats of more violence and warnings that the unrest will feed support for France's anti-immigration extreme right.
"Civil war is declared. There will no doubt be deaths. Unfortunately, we have to prepare," said a posting signed "Rania."
"We are going to destroy everything. Rest in peace, guys," wrote "Saint Denis."
The unrest reached Paris late Saturday. Hamon had no immediate information on the neighborhoods where the vehicles were torched. Paris police headquarters said three cars were damaged by fire in the Republique section, northeast of City Hall.
"It's copycat acts," Hamon said. "All these hoodlums see others setting fires and say they can do it, too."
(AP) A firefighter extinguishes a car in the Renault housing complex of Les Mureaux, north west
Evreux, 60 miles to the west, appeared to suffer the worst damage Saturday. The burning of the shopping center showed that "there is a will to pillage," Hamon said. "This has been true since the start," referring to grocery stores, video stores and other businesses that have been set afire.
The unrest has taken on unprecedented scope and intensity, reaching far-flung corners of France on Saturday, from Rouen in Normandy to Bordeaux in the southwest to Strasbourg near the German border.
However, the Paris region has borne the brunt.
In quiet Acheres, on the edge of the St. Germain forest west of Paris, arsonists burned a nursery school, where part of the roof caved in, and about a dozen cars in attacks the mayor described as "perfectly organized."
Children's photos clung to the blackened walls, and melted plastic toys littered the floor. Residents gathered at the school gate, demanding that the army be deployed or suggesting that citizens band together to protect their neighborhoods.
(AP) Youths gesture next to a wall with grafs that reads "Fuck the police, Sarkozy resign"
Mayor Alain Outreman tried to cool tempers.
"We are not going to start militias," he said. "You would have to be everywhere."
Cars were torched in the cultural bastion of Avignon in the south and the resort cities of Nice and Cannes, a police officer said.
Arson was reported in Nantes in the southwest, the Lille region in the north and Saint-Dizier in the Ardennes region east of Paris. In the eastern city of Strasbourg, 18 cars were set alight in full daylight, police said.
In one attack, youths in the eastern Paris suburb of Meaux prevented paramedics from evacuating a sick person from a housing project. They pelted rescuers with rocks and then torched the waiting ambulance, an Interior Ministry official said.
(AP) The roof of a nursery school in Acheres, west of Paris, is caved in Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005
Most of the overnight arrests occurred near Paris. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy warned that those convicted could face severe sentences for burning cars.
"Violence penalizes those who live in the toughest conditions," he said after a government crisis meeting.
Most rioting has been in towns with low-income housing projects where unemployment and distrust of police run high. But in a new development, arsonists were moving beyond their heavily policed neighborhoods to attack others with less security, Hamon said.
"They are very mobile, in cars or scooters. ... It is quite hard to combat" he said. "Most are young, very young, we have even seen young minors."
There appeared to be no coordination between separate groups in different areas, Hamon said. But within gangs, he added, youths are communicating by cell phones or e-mails.
"They organize themselves, arrange meetings, some prepare the Molotov cocktails," he said.
In Torcy, close to Disneyland Paris, a youth center and a police station were set ablaze. In Suresnes, on the Seine River west of the capital, 44 cars were burned in a parking lot.
"We thought Suresnes was calm," said Naima Mouis, a hospital employee whose car was torched.
On Saturday morning, more than 1,000 people marched through one of the worst-hit suburbs, Aulnay-sous-Bois. Local officials wore sashes in the red, white and blue of the French flag as they filed past housing projects and the wrecks of burned cars. One white banner read, "No to violence."
Anger was fanned days ago when a tear gas bomb exploded in a mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois - the northern suburb where the youths were electrocuted.
Sarkozy also has inflamed passions by referring to troublemakers as "scum."
---
Associated Press reporters Jamey Keaten and Angela Doland in Paris and John Leicester in Acheres contributed to this report.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Unrest Reaches Paris; 13 Cars Torched
Nov 5, 11:49 PM (ET)
By ELAINE GANLEY
PARIS (AP) - The urban unrest that triggered scores of arson attacks on vehicles, nursery schools and other targets from the Mediterranean to the German border reached Paris overnight, with police saying early Sunday that 13 cars were burned in the French capital.
By 1 a.m., at least 607 vehicles - including those in Paris - were burned during the 10th night of violence, said Patrick Hamon, spokesman for the national police. The overall figures were expected to climb by daybreak, he added.
The violence - originally concentrated in neighborhoods northeast of Paris with large immigrant populations - has spread across France, extending west to the rolling fields of Normandy and south to resort cities on the Mediterranean. Attacks were reported in Cannes and Nice.
In the Normandy town of Evreux, arsonists burned at least 50 vehicles, part of a shopping center, a post office and two schools, Hamon said.
Five police officers and three firefighters were injured battling the blazes, he said.
The unrest is forcing France to confront long-simmering anger in its suburbs, where many Africans and their French-born children live on society's margins, struggling with unemployment, poor housing, racial discrimination, crime and a lack of opportunity.
Police deployed a helicopter and tactical teams to chase down youths speeding from one attack to another in cars and on motorbikes. Some 2,300 police were brought into the Paris region to bolster security, France-Info said. More than 250 people were arrested.
The violence erupted Oct. 27 following the accidental electrocution of two teenagers who hid in a power substation, apparently believing police were chasing them.
The anger spread to the Internet, with blogs mourning the youths.
(AP) A firefighter extinguishes a car in "Les Musicians" housing complex of Les Mureaux, north west of Paris...
Along with messages of condolence and appeals for calm were insults targeting police, threats of more violence and warnings that the unrest will feed support for France's anti-immigration extreme right.
"Civil war is declared. There will no doubt be deaths. Unfortunately, we have to prepare," said a posting signed "Rania."
"We are going to destroy everything. Rest in peace, guys," wrote "Saint Denis."
The unrest reached Paris late Saturday. Hamon had no immediate information on the neighborhoods where the vehicles were torched. Paris police headquarters said three cars were damaged by fire in the Republique section, northeast of City Hall.
"It's copycat acts," Hamon said. "All these hoodlums see others setting fires and say they can do it, too."
(AP) A firefighter extinguishes a car in the Renault housing complex of Les Mureaux, north west
Evreux, 60 miles to the west, appeared to suffer the worst damage Saturday. The burning of the shopping center showed that "there is a will to pillage," Hamon said. "This has been true since the start," referring to grocery stores, video stores and other businesses that have been set afire.
The unrest has taken on unprecedented scope and intensity, reaching far-flung corners of France on Saturday, from Rouen in Normandy to Bordeaux in the southwest to Strasbourg near the German border.
However, the Paris region has borne the brunt.
In quiet Acheres, on the edge of the St. Germain forest west of Paris, arsonists burned a nursery school, where part of the roof caved in, and about a dozen cars in attacks the mayor described as "perfectly organized."
Children's photos clung to the blackened walls, and melted plastic toys littered the floor. Residents gathered at the school gate, demanding that the army be deployed or suggesting that citizens band together to protect their neighborhoods.
(AP) Youths gesture next to a wall with grafs that reads "Fuck the police, Sarkozy resign"
Mayor Alain Outreman tried to cool tempers.
"We are not going to start militias," he said. "You would have to be everywhere."
Cars were torched in the cultural bastion of Avignon in the south and the resort cities of Nice and Cannes, a police officer said.
Arson was reported in Nantes in the southwest, the Lille region in the north and Saint-Dizier in the Ardennes region east of Paris. In the eastern city of Strasbourg, 18 cars were set alight in full daylight, police said.
In one attack, youths in the eastern Paris suburb of Meaux prevented paramedics from evacuating a sick person from a housing project. They pelted rescuers with rocks and then torched the waiting ambulance, an Interior Ministry official said.
(AP) The roof of a nursery school in Acheres, west of Paris, is caved in Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005
Most of the overnight arrests occurred near Paris. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy warned that those convicted could face severe sentences for burning cars.
"Violence penalizes those who live in the toughest conditions," he said after a government crisis meeting.
Most rioting has been in towns with low-income housing projects where unemployment and distrust of police run high. But in a new development, arsonists were moving beyond their heavily policed neighborhoods to attack others with less security, Hamon said.
"They are very mobile, in cars or scooters. ... It is quite hard to combat" he said. "Most are young, very young, we have even seen young minors."
There appeared to be no coordination between separate groups in different areas, Hamon said. But within gangs, he added, youths are communicating by cell phones or e-mails.
"They organize themselves, arrange meetings, some prepare the Molotov cocktails," he said.
In Torcy, close to Disneyland Paris, a youth center and a police station were set ablaze. In Suresnes, on the Seine River west of the capital, 44 cars were burned in a parking lot.
"We thought Suresnes was calm," said Naima Mouis, a hospital employee whose car was torched.
On Saturday morning, more than 1,000 people marched through one of the worst-hit suburbs, Aulnay-sous-Bois. Local officials wore sashes in the red, white and blue of the French flag as they filed past housing projects and the wrecks of burned cars. One white banner read, "No to violence."
Anger was fanned days ago when a tear gas bomb exploded in a mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois - the northern suburb where the youths were electrocuted.
Sarkozy also has inflamed passions by referring to troublemakers as "scum."
---
Associated Press reporters Jamey Keaten and Angela Doland in Paris and John Leicester in Acheres contributed to this report.
Rioting Spreads From Paris Across France
Nov 5, 11:26 AM (ET)
By JAMEY KEATEN
(AP) Childrens' photos remain stuck to the walls at a nursery school in Acheres, west of Paris,...
AUBERVILLIERS, France (AP) - Marauding youths torched nearly 900 vehicles, stoned paramedics and burned a nursery school in a ninth night of violence that spread from Paris suburbs to towns around France, police said Saturday. Authorities arrested more than 250 people overnight - a sweep unprecedented since the unrest began.
For the first time, authorities used a helicopter to chase down youths armed with gasoline bombs who raced from arson attack to arson attack, national police spokesman Patrick Hamon said.
The violence, which was concentrated in neighborhoods with large African and Muslim populations but has since spread, has forced France to address the simmering anger of its suburbs, where immigrants and their French-born children live on the margins of society.
With 897 vehicles destroyed by daybreak Saturday, it was the worst one-day toll since unrest broke out after the Oct. 27 accidental electrocution of two teenagers who believed police were chasing them. Five hundred cars were burned a night earlier.
In a particularly malevolent turn, youths in the eastern Paris suburb of Meaux prevented paramedics from evacuating a sick person from a housing project, pelting rescuers with rocks and torching the awaiting ambulance, an Interior Ministry official said.
A nursery school was badly burned in Acheres, west of Paris.
The town had previously escaped the violence, the worst rioting in at least a decade in France. Some residents demanded that the army be deployed, or that citizens band together to protect their neighborhoods. At the school gate, Mayor Alain Outreman tried to calm tempers.
"We are not going to start militias," he said. "You would have to be everywhere."
Unrest, mainly arson, was reported in the northern city of Lille, in Toulouse in the southwest and in the Normandy city of Rouen. It was the second night that troubles spread beyond the difficult Paris suburbs.
(AP) A youth walks past a torched vehicle in Acheres, west of Paris, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005. Marauding...
In Suresnes, a normally calm town just west of the capital, 44 cars were burned in a lot.
On Saturday morning, more than 1,000 people took part in a silent march in one of the worst-hit suburbs, Aulnay-sous-Bois. One banner read: "No to violence."
Police detained 258 people overnight, almost all in the Paris region, and dozens of them will be prosecuted, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said after a government crisis meeting.
"Violence penalizes those who live in the toughest conditions," he said. "Violence is not the solution."
Most attacks have been in towns with low-income housing projects, areas marked by high unemployment, crime and despair. But in a new development, gangs have left their heavily policed neighborhoods to attack others with fewer police, spreading the violence.
(AP) Young boys look at the nursery school in Acheres, west of Paris, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005, after...
Police deployed overnight in smaller, more mobile teams to chase rioters getting around in cars and on motorcycles, said Hamon, the police spokesman.
There appeared to be no coordination among gangs in different areas, Hamon said. Within gangs, however, youths communicated by cell phone text messages or e-mails and warned each other about police, he said.
Anger against police was fanned days ago when a tear gas bomb exploded in a mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois, north of Paris - the same surburb where the youths were electrocuted. Youths suspected a police operation, but Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met Saturday with the head of the Paris mosque and denied that police were to blame.
The persistence of the violence prompted the American and Russian governments to advise citizens visiting Paris to steer clear of the suburbs.
In Torcy, east of the capital, looters set fire to a youth center and a police station, which were gutted, city hall said. An incendiary device was tossed at the wall of a synagogue in Pierrefitte, northwest of Paris.
A police officer at the Interior Ministry operations center said bullets were fired into a vandalized bus in Sarcelles, north of Paris.
Firefighters battled a furious blaze at a carpet warehouse in Aubervilliers, on the northern edge of Paris.
---
Associated Press writers John Leicester, Elaine Ganley and Angela Doland in Paris contributed to this report.
Nov 5, 11:26 AM (ET)
By JAMEY KEATEN
(AP) Childrens' photos remain stuck to the walls at a nursery school in Acheres, west of Paris,...
AUBERVILLIERS, France (AP) - Marauding youths torched nearly 900 vehicles, stoned paramedics and burned a nursery school in a ninth night of violence that spread from Paris suburbs to towns around France, police said Saturday. Authorities arrested more than 250 people overnight - a sweep unprecedented since the unrest began.
For the first time, authorities used a helicopter to chase down youths armed with gasoline bombs who raced from arson attack to arson attack, national police spokesman Patrick Hamon said.
The violence, which was concentrated in neighborhoods with large African and Muslim populations but has since spread, has forced France to address the simmering anger of its suburbs, where immigrants and their French-born children live on the margins of society.
With 897 vehicles destroyed by daybreak Saturday, it was the worst one-day toll since unrest broke out after the Oct. 27 accidental electrocution of two teenagers who believed police were chasing them. Five hundred cars were burned a night earlier.
In a particularly malevolent turn, youths in the eastern Paris suburb of Meaux prevented paramedics from evacuating a sick person from a housing project, pelting rescuers with rocks and torching the awaiting ambulance, an Interior Ministry official said.
A nursery school was badly burned in Acheres, west of Paris.
The town had previously escaped the violence, the worst rioting in at least a decade in France. Some residents demanded that the army be deployed, or that citizens band together to protect their neighborhoods. At the school gate, Mayor Alain Outreman tried to calm tempers.
"We are not going to start militias," he said. "You would have to be everywhere."
Unrest, mainly arson, was reported in the northern city of Lille, in Toulouse in the southwest and in the Normandy city of Rouen. It was the second night that troubles spread beyond the difficult Paris suburbs.
(AP) A youth walks past a torched vehicle in Acheres, west of Paris, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005. Marauding...
In Suresnes, a normally calm town just west of the capital, 44 cars were burned in a lot.
On Saturday morning, more than 1,000 people took part in a silent march in one of the worst-hit suburbs, Aulnay-sous-Bois. One banner read: "No to violence."
Police detained 258 people overnight, almost all in the Paris region, and dozens of them will be prosecuted, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said after a government crisis meeting.
"Violence penalizes those who live in the toughest conditions," he said. "Violence is not the solution."
Most attacks have been in towns with low-income housing projects, areas marked by high unemployment, crime and despair. But in a new development, gangs have left their heavily policed neighborhoods to attack others with fewer police, spreading the violence.
(AP) Young boys look at the nursery school in Acheres, west of Paris, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005, after...
Police deployed overnight in smaller, more mobile teams to chase rioters getting around in cars and on motorcycles, said Hamon, the police spokesman.
There appeared to be no coordination among gangs in different areas, Hamon said. Within gangs, however, youths communicated by cell phone text messages or e-mails and warned each other about police, he said.
Anger against police was fanned days ago when a tear gas bomb exploded in a mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois, north of Paris - the same surburb where the youths were electrocuted. Youths suspected a police operation, but Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met Saturday with the head of the Paris mosque and denied that police were to blame.
The persistence of the violence prompted the American and Russian governments to advise citizens visiting Paris to steer clear of the suburbs.
In Torcy, east of the capital, looters set fire to a youth center and a police station, which were gutted, city hall said. An incendiary device was tossed at the wall of a synagogue in Pierrefitte, northwest of Paris.
A police officer at the Interior Ministry operations center said bullets were fired into a vandalized bus in Sarcelles, north of Paris.
Firefighters battled a furious blaze at a carpet warehouse in Aubervilliers, on the northern edge of Paris.
---
Associated Press writers John Leicester, Elaine Ganley and Angela Doland in Paris contributed to this report.
That is horrible how those youth violently rioted in France.
I am glad my sister wasn't there!
She was in Paris coulple of weeks ago!!
I wonder what the motivation is for those kids to be so violent and distructive?
They burned a nursery school? What was their motivation for that? Or was everything just random. This makes no sense. Rioting makes no sense!
God Bless You Luce (\ô/)
((HUGE HUGS))
Countess
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I am glad my sister wasn't there!
She was in Paris coulple of weeks ago!!
I wonder what the motivation is for those kids to be so violent and distructive?
They burned a nursery school? What was their motivation for that? Or was everything just random. This makes no sense. Rioting makes no sense!
God Bless You Luce (\ô/)
((HUGE HUGS))
Countess
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