Hundreds arrested as France race riots spread

[Otali]

Riots Spread Across France; 250 Arrested By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 56 minutes ago



ACHERES, France - Youths armed with gasoline bombs fanned out from Paris' poor, troubled suburbs to shatter the tranquility of leafier towns, torching 900 vehicles, a nursery school and other targets Saturday in the worst wave of arson since the urban violence began more than a week ago.

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Police deployed a helicopter and small teams of officers to chase down youths who sped from one attack to another in cars and on motorbikes. The new security tactics yielded more than 250 arrests during the ninth straight night of unrest.

The violence — originally concentrated in neighborhoods northeast of Paris with large immigrant populations — is forcing France to confront anger long-simmering 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.

Triggered by an outburst of fury over the deaths of two teenagers, the unrest has taken on unprecedented scope and intensity. The violence hit far-flung corners of France on Saturday, from Rouen in Normandy to Bordeaux in the southwest to Strasbourg near the German border, but the Paris region has borne the brunt.

In quiet Acheres, on the edge of the St. Germain forest west of the capital, arsonists burned a nursery school, where part of the roof caved in, and about a dozen cars in four attacks over an hour that the mayor said seemed "perfectly organized."

Children's photos clung to the blackened walls, and melted plastic toys littered the floor. Residents gathered at the school gate demanded that the army be deployed or suggested that citizens band together to protect their neighborhoods. Mayor Alain Outreman tried to cool tempers.

"We are not going to start militias," he said. "You would have to be everywhere."

In one particularly malevolent 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, then torched the awaiting ambulance, an Interior Ministry official said.

By daybreak Saturday, 897 vehicles were destroyed — a sharp rise from the 500 burned a night earlier, police said. It was the worst one-day toll since the unrest erupted Oct. 27 following the accidental electrocution of the two teenagers who hid in a power substation, apparently believing police were chasing them.

Anger has spread to the Internet, with blogs mourning the youths.

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."

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. He warned of possibly heavy sentences for burning cars.

"Violence penalizes those who live in the toughest conditions," he said.

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, said a national police spokesman, Patrick Hamon.

"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."

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 into a twisted hulk of metal.

On Saturday morning, more than 1,000 people took part in a silent march in 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, north of Paris — the same suburb where the youths were electrocuted.

Sarkozy also has inflamed passions by referring to troublemakers as "scum."

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin denied that police were to blame. The director of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, who met Saturday with Villepin, urged the government to choose its words carefully and send a message of peace.

"In such difficult circumstances, every word counts," Boubakeur said.

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[Kamal35]

You don't know it yet: but Europe is getting and getting and getting angry with this. There's now a muslim riot in the heart of Paris. A riot based on democracy, laws, rights and etc. Wait for the white riot. Young, inmigrant boys, using the essence of democracy, are trying to hit the heart of Europe using Al Quran as a symbol, like in Palestine. But this is not Palestine. This is a way of life in which democracy, the rights of women and the rights of minorities are respected. If a minority tries to abuse of it, as it's happening in Paris with the inmigrant minority, mainly muslim, the next move will be: forget about the right of muslims.

Take it or leave it: if muslims live here, they have to behave as good people, and to improve 'our' society. If they want riots, sharia et all, they won't have a f-king green card to live here.

Muslims are welcome when they're good people trying to improve Europe. They won't be welcome if they want to spread a nazi state here.

Paris is showing this: the free people won't allow the barbarians to impose a new kind of state. It's as simple as that. Similar things will happens in Madrid, London, Berlin or Rome: minorities will have riots against the Police. The answer will be the same: fanatics are not allowed here.

[Otali]

Kemal

you have totally miscontrued what is happening in France. These are not "immigrants" they are second and even third generation french. There parents were born in France, so how are they less french than the whites there? Of course they are treated as some kind of "just-of-the boat" refugee, and no one will tolerate being treated like that and put onto urban reserved, denied jobs just because they have a muslim sounding name, it is absurd for the french to continue to hide and distort this growing reality..
otali

[Kamal35]

Otali: there's a war between "muslim-inmigrants-youngboys" agaisnt this "fanatic white-christian Europe". That's all.

From the mosques in Paris they're calling for rebelion against the western democracy. This is the old war: "White Europeans are trying to exterminate our way of life" and all that, Otali... They hate Allah... etc"

[Kamal35]

the whole thing is a mistake.

Those ones who are supporting wahabism are wrong.

Those ones who are supporting democracy are wrong too.

All of them want a war.

It's just stupid.

[Otali]

Kemal
The bottomline is: should someone who speaks french as his first language
who has achieved all the educational and working experiences necessary
be denied a job solely for the color of his skin or his religion?

That is the question the french society does not want to ask and for which it wants to reply in the affirmative and not take the consequences of such policies in employment, housing and all other spheres of public life for millions of its citizens.

Most of this has no religious connotation in my opinion, apart from the discrimination these people endure because of their faith.
if you were to just read up on the matter more carefully you would see this and not make such erroneous generalization.

[Kamal35]

Otali: just ask my question...

Being French citizen, Spanish, British, etc, being muslim...

Would you allow a nazi sistem in Europe, whatever it is christian, atheist, muslim or whatever?

Would you allow someone to tell you that you have to believe in this or that?

Would you allow someone to tell you that you can't be muslim anymore because Europe has decided that Islam is not allowed here?

Would you allowed that?

Please, ask. And then we can talk.

[Kamal35]

Sahib: those riots are trying to impose that Europe must be muslim and under the sharia.

We reject that.

And we can discuss about it all what you want.

[Otali]

This is growing crisis is the direct result of an arrogant miscalculation approximately 60 years ago. The racist French still do not want to come to terms with the” diversity” in their society, for that matter, in ideas and colours of their citizens. When they brought all these former colonial subjects from north Africa and elsewhere into its territory, the idea was that the 3rd generation would be French. Period. That is exactly what happened the 3 and 4th generation arab who is out rioting in the streets now sees himself as much French as the cops who brutalize him daily, but with the only difference being: he is not treated the same, so he demands to be treated as any other frenchman. Thus therem lies the problem: I am French like you, but you continue to treat me like I am not”. It is the same thing in UK and other parts I am sure.

As for creating a nazi state, I think you have your politicians confused. It is Le Pen, the man who almost became President of the Republic who have the nazi intentions of sealing off these people into their urban concentration camps.

[COSTA]

kamal fagg

with in 75 years muslims will be majority in in europe

this time we ll conquer the west with out using the sword

too many faggs in western europe and they have too many pensions

thats why they need real men like us mislims

bus soon w e ll take over europe and your gay ass will be for sale

[Kamal35]

Otali: really briliant here. Touché.

Costa: fuck your own mother. You're pure shit.

[Kamal35]

Otali: you must understand this point from a French point of view, which will be the Spanish point of view in a matter of two years or so...

Democracies in Europe are trying to be the most open ways of life to everyone, from South Africa to Australia. But what democracies in Europe CAN'T DO is to import fanatic mentalities, or barbarians mentalities that are asking for their rights to express themselves in order to spread fanatic mentalities.

You can't say that you're protecting your culture when your culture is protecting, for example, the ablation of clitoris in Somalia. Of course, it belongs to the Somali culture. But you can't use you culture in order to spread a barbarian act.

A lot of barbarian cultures tried to use "democracy" as a way to introduce themselves into a system which allows all diversities.

And there's a moment in which some people (parliament members) have to say "enough is enough". One thing is human rights, and a completly different thing is people trying to use human rights to introduce barbarian acts as though they were human rights, when they're completly opposed to human rights: i.e: chopping clits in Somalia under the thing that it's a "cultural tradition"...

Completly agree at this point.

[Otali]

A self-serving argument. The European discriminates daily, denies the social and political rights of minority women to live a decent life, yet has the audacity to campaign for the freedom of their private parts. What about fighting for their rights to partake in the wider public life, instead he denies them this and their children so much just because of their colour and irony since he( the oppressor) is fighting for those he oppresses( minority woman).

Majority of young muslims in Europe are not religious or observant of their traditions, they think and live like the so called “natives euros”, yet those minorities who are observant and those who aren’t have experienced the same treatment, regardless if say a girl she wears the Hijab or not she is still discriminates against as one who wears the Hijab.

The European in sick way do not even what to intergrate those who have seemingly done everything to become like them, who have changed their names, but they still do not accept them. Because they want to find something to do with this growing “surplus population of browns and blacks”, who now understand the rhetoric of rights.

Otali

[dhuusa_deer]

It's funny that this is dubbed as 'race riots' when what infact is 'islamic riot.' Most of the rioters are muslims, at least the ones I saw on TV. They were shouting the great Islamic tautology 'ALAHU AKBAR.'

Also funny is how these guys all of the sudden get the gumption and balls to start riots to protest shortcomings of their governments (of the adopted nation) but never utter a peep in their own lands to overthrow dictorial rulers and replace them better, more democratic governments.

Interesting!

[Kamal35]

What's happening in Paris is really serious. Second generation of kids, because of the skin colour or traditions, are feeling that they're some kind of second class citizens in France, which is true. But wahabists are fueling this sensation. So wahabist are using Islam as "the main reason" of the rejection of Europeans to inmigrant boys. Wahabists are using the "riot" not in the level, for example, University students of Paris used the riots against the Police in may, 1968, but as a religious war, which is false, untrue and a complet hoax.

The riots of Paris today could be compared to the Punk Movement in London in 1976: young boys against the system. You only need to buy records as "God save the Queen", by Sex Pistols, or "White riot", by The Clash, to understand the whole phenomenon. The wanted anarchy, the leading-word was "Destroy", etc. It was the social movement from the lower-classes against the system in which a Kingdom was working, and the Royal Family seemed to be the TOP of the society.

But, in the Paris riots, there's not a young movement against the system. Someone is using it as a riot in the heart of Europe as though it were the Cruzades... Christianity against Islam... Which is a pure shit. Young boys wearing Nike, Levi's Strauss, listening to rap, are suddenly 'mujahedins'...

Something is sounding here as a manipulation.

Someone is using here the frustration of a inmigrant population in order to a black agenda called, in my opinion, "wahabism".

They're using the same tactics that ETA used for years in the Basque Country: first support young boys, then send them to street-fights, then convert them into terrorists.

We know a little bit about this...