There has been some serious rioting going on in france over the past year or so, it is said that it, 'started' in 2005 when two teenagers, Zyed Benna and Bouna Traore were electrocuted hiding from the police in an electrical sub-station. Fact is that the riots stem from a lack of opportunities for Black African and Arab migrants who live in the worst of conditions in slums throughout France, as usual the deaths of the two teenagers was only fuel to the flames of injustice and social pressures for the French speaking Black Africans and other minorities living in France not to mention the poor french natives themselves.

It goes without saying that these people who are from ''ex'' colonial territories in Africa already know the score when it comes to French imperialism in their homelands;



Posting this after reading that the riots have gotten worse since 2005 and that rioters are now using firearms against the police. The media in the UK isn't covering any of this, as expected... the last riots saw the trend spread to other ''minority'' areas throughout europe.

french riots - Google Video

Maps of the riots;


BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Maps: Riots in France

Interactive: French riots - Europe - MSNBC.com

^ Time line map

Chirac vows to restore order amid fresh riots - Telegraph

Sarkozy Calls Paris Riots Unacceptable
By NICOLAS GARRIGA – 19 hours ago



The Associated Press: Sarkozy Calls Paris Riots Unacceptable

VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France (AP) — Police patrolled Paris' troubled suburbs in force Wednesday night to watch for rioters who have torched buildings and cars in three nights of unrest, while President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed tough punishments for youths who shot at police.

The government of the Val d'Oise region north of Paris — the center of the unrest — reported a few scattered incidents of cars and garbage cans set on fire after nightfall, but said the situation was mostly calm. Three people had been taken into custody.

Keen to show things are under control, Sarkozy took a hard line against rioters who fired at officers with shotguns this week. Youths who used firearms "will find themselves in a criminal court," he said. "That has a name, it is attempted murder."

Ten officers were injured by buckshot and pellets at the peak of violence Monday, national police have said. Police unions said about 30 officers were hurt. Prosecutors said they had opened a preliminary inquiry for attempted homicide in the cases.

The unrest has drawn comparisons to riots that raged nationwide for three weeks in 2005, and it shows that anger still simmers in poor housing projects where many Arabs, blacks and other minorities live.

The rough suburbs are shaky ground for a president who has confidently tackled striking rail workers and sticky diplomatic situations but is unwelcome in poor French housing projects where his hard line on crime and immigration has riled many residents.

As interior minister just before the 2005 riots, Sarkozy called troublemakers in the suburbs "scum." During the election campaign this year, he deftly avoided such neighborhoods, except for one carefully orchestrated blitz visit.

On Wednesday, Sarkozy described the incident that sparked the latest violence — the deaths of two teenage boys killed Sunday in an accident with a police car in the Paris suburb of Villiers-le-Bel — as "distressing."

But he insisted that was no excuse for the mayhem.

"So that things are very clear: What has happened is absolutely unacceptable," Sarkozy said after meeting with a police captain hospitalized in Eaubonne, north of Paris, after returning from a trip to China.

Later the president met with families of the teenagers and told them a judicial inquiry had been opened into the deaths, their lawyer, Jean-Pierre Mignard, said.

The inquiry will allow the parents to "participate actively in finding out the truth. Nothing will be hidden," Mignard said.

Questions about the circumstances of the accident triggered the rioting in Villiers-le-Bel, a working class town of low-rise public housing and verdant squares. The belief that police were at fault prompted rioters to burn down a library, preschool and several stores earlier this week.

A prosecutor has said the officers did not appear to have caused the crash, though officials are investigating.

The issue is sensitive, as there are long-standing tensions between France's largely white police force and ethnic minorities in poor neighborhoods. Youth anger has focused on police, as it did in 2005. That violence also started in the suburbs of northern Paris, when two teens were electrocuted in a power substation while hiding from police.

Successive governments have struggled with the question of how to integrate minority youths from poor neighborhoods into French society. Heavy state investments have done little to improve housing and create jobs in the depressed projects that ring Paris.

The government's newest plan — an "equal opportunities" bill to improve the prospects of those in poor suburbs — will be unveiled Jan. 22 as planned, government spokesman Laurent Wauquiez said.

"The goal is not to spend billions once again," he said, but to solve problems, such as ensuring job opportunities for youths and access to public transit in poor neighborhoods.

Though still tense, Tuesday night was quieter than previous nights. National police said a few officers were lightly injured.

Patrice Ribeiro of the Synergie police union put the figure at 20 — down from more than 80 the night before. Youths lobbed Molotov cocktails and stones at police in Villiers-le-Bel but no firearms were used Tuesday, he said.

About 138 cars around France were burned overnight, which Ribeiro called almost "normal." Police say as many as 100 cars are burned every night around the country.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Wednesday that 39 people were arrested Tuesday night but that the overall situation was calm. She said on Europe-1 radio that the police presence would remain reinforced "as long as necessary."

PARIS, France (AP) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday that rioters who shot at police would be brought to justice and called the violence that rocked Paris suburbs "absolutely unacceptable."


It was the first time Sarkozy, who had just returned from China, entered the fray since the rioting broke out Sunday night.
The violence ebbed Tuesday night after police were deployed in force and quickly rounded up youths lobbing Molotov cocktails and setting cars ablaze.


The violence has drawn comparisons with riots that raged through suburbs nationwide in 2005, and has shown that anger still smolders in poor housing projects where many Arabs, blacks and other minorities live largely isolated from the rest of society.
"We will find the shooters," and they will "be brought to account before justice," Sarkozy said after meeting with a wounded police captain hospitalized in Eaubonne north of Paris.


The violence erupted Sunday after the deaths of two minority teens whose motorscooter collided with a police car in Villiers-le-Bel, a blue-collar town on Paris' northern edge.


Residents claimed the officers left without helping the teens. Prosecutor Marie-Therese de Givry denied that, saying police stayed on the scene until firefighters arrived.


Sarkozy described the teens' deaths as "distressing." But he added: "Shooting at police has no link to this incident."
The French president was meeting Wednesday morning with the families of the two teens who died, and with the mayor of Villiers-le-Bel before having a security meeting with his top ministers.


While cars were set ablaze for a third night Tuesday, officials said the violence was less intense than the two previous nights. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said the overall situation was "calm." Still, she said on Europe-1 radio, police presence would remain reinforced "as long as necessary."


She said 39 people were arrested in the Paris region Tuesday night.


Bands of young people set more cars on fire Tuesday in and around Villiers-le-Bel. In the southern city of Toulouse, 20 cars were set ablaze, and fires at two libraries were quickly brought under control, police said.
The previous night, 82 officers were injured, 10 of them by buckshot and pellets, the police force said. The use of firearms -- rare in 2005 -- added a dangerous dimension.


Sarkozy was interior minister, in charge of police, during the 2005 riots and took a hard line against the violence. Even before those riots, he angered many in housing projects when he called delinquents there "scum."

The violence two years ago also started in the suburbs of northern Paris, when two teens were electrocuted in a power substation while hiding from police.
There have long been tensions between France's largely white police force and ethnic minorities in poor neighborhoods. Despite decades of problems and heavy state investments to improve housing and create jobs, the depressed projects that ring Paris are a world apart from the tourist attractions of the French capital. Police speak of no-go zones where they and firefighters fear to patrol

Rioters 'were out to kill us', says wounded French officer

28 November 2007
PARIS - "It felt like they were out to kill us. We knew there were weapons in the suburbs, but never turned against us like that," one of the police officers shot during youth riots near Paris told AFP Wednesday.

Sent to the suburb of Villiers le Bel to quell an outbreak of violence that followed the death of two teens in a crash with police, Francois, who asked not to be fully identified, found himself under siege.

"We were attacked from all sides" by youths armed with hunting rifles."

"The kids were shooting at us at close range, loading and reloading their weapons. I've never seen anything like it. It was like in a movie. They were picking us off from 10 or 15 metres away."

"I was hit in the hand with what I thought was a slingshot. I didn't realise right away that it was buckshot, until I saw the hole in my trousers. I tried to protect my younger colleagues, then I fell to the ground."


Police unions say the scale and intensity of the violence unleashed since Sunday is worse than the 2005 riots, also sparked by the deaths of two youths.


A line was crossed, they say, when suburb gangs turned guns on the police, 120 of whom were injured, several by gunwound. The hunting rifles used by the gangs are dangerous anywhere within a 300-metre (yard) range.


Bruno Beschizza of the Synergie-Officiers police union said he had told Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie of the fear sparked among the police rank and file by the recent flare-up.
"We told her that our colleagues, out in the field, were afraid. How would you not be when a guy pulls a gun out of his sleeve?" he told AFP.


"There were not enough of us to sustain that kind of a siege," Francois said. "I had run out of (rubber bullet) ammunition. We really got a fright. We felt they were out to kill us. We didn't know where we were any more."


Police unionists and officers admitted that security forces were "caught off guard" on Monday, the worst night of violence.


Tuesday's ramped-up police operation, with 1,000 men and surveillance helicopters deployed to Villiers alone, was overseen by one of France's highest police chiefs in a sign of the gravity of the situation.


President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Wednesday that rioters who shot at police would be severely punished.


"Opening fire at officials is completely unacceptable," Sarkozy warned, accusing the rioters of "attempted murder" and promising that "those who take it into their hands to shoot at officials will find themselves in court."


Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has suggested that local gang leaders were orchestrating the violence, vowing "zero tolerance" in rooting out the ringleaders.
A report from Le Monde newspaper described boys as young as 13 taking orders from their elders to torch buildings and forming battle ranks against the police, vowing to "do in" a "pig" -- a police officer.


"When you fire at close range on police officers, it is obvious you intend to injure if not worse," Alliot-Marie said said.


"This is intolerable, whatever the reasons -- which are clearly just excuses for some people to settle scores or cover up their criminal activities."


AFP
Subject: French news