
Rioters shoot police as French president promises crackdown CBC \|\| November 7, 2005 Rioters have fired at police in a Paris suburb, injuring 10 officers hours after the French president vowed to arrest and jail people taking part in violence that is rocking the country for an eleventh night. Young men armed with guns fired on the police Sunday night in the suburb of Grigny and seriously hurt two of them, the Interior Ministry said. One officer was treated for throat wounds while another was hit in the leg, Reuters news agency said. The range was too great to kill the officers, a police spokesman said. However, it marked an escalation in the riots that have seen more than 1,500 vehicles torched, dozens of businesses and schools burned and more than 800 people arrested since the violence began on Oct. 27. Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com 'The law must have the last word': Chirac Authorities also reported attacks and vandalism in Orleans, Rennes and Nantes, hours after President Jacques Chirac vowed to take a tough line with the rioters. "The law must have the last word," Chirac warned, after nightly rioting spread from the immigrant-dominated suburbs of Paris to other communities over 11 days. In his first public comments since the riots started, the president vowed to restore order with arrests, trials and punishment for those responsible for the unrest. "The Republic is quite determined, by definition, to be stronger than those who want to sow violence or fear," Chirac said after a special security meeting of cabinet ministers. Shortly after the meeting of ministers responsible for defence, justice, social services, finance and the interior ministry, violence flared in Saint-Etienne, in southern France. Youths seized a bus, ordered passengers to get off, then torched the vehicle. The driver and one passenger were hurt, officials said. After the meeting, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters the government will "accelerate judicial procedures" to make sure that those arrested can immediately be brought before special courts. The violence first broke out in the poor suburbs of Paris after two teenagers of African origin were electrocuted while reportedly hiding from police in an electrical sub-station. Rioters burned nearly 1,300 vehicles in a variety of locations around country in the 24 hours ending Sunday morning, French media reported. Young men and boys continued to wreak havoc into the early hours using motorbikes and cars to move from one spot to another to lob Molotov cocktails at buildings and cars and pelt police with rocks. On Saturday, they burned to the ground two schools in the Paris suburb of Essonne. No one was injured. An extra 2,300 police officers patrolled in the capital and surrounding communities. Police used a helicopter with a searchlight to follow bands of youths. In the Normandy town of Evreux, about 100 kilometres from Paris, 50 cars, schools, a post office and stores were torched on Saturday night, police said. Many people view the violence as the expression of pent-up anger by the country's unemployed and underemployed youth, particularly in Muslim immigrant communities, and as a sign of the difficulty North Africans have experienced in trying to integrate into French society. Home	Weekly
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Rioters shoot police as French president promises crackdown

CBC || November 7, 2005

Rioters have fired at police in a Paris suburb, injuring 10 officers hours after the French president vowed to arrest and jail people taking part in violence that is rocking the country for an eleventh night.

Young men armed with guns fired on the police Sunday night in the suburb of Grigny and seriously hurt two of them, the Interior Ministry said.

One officer was treated for throat wounds while another was hit in the leg, Reuters news agency said.

The range was too great to kill the officers, a police spokesman said.

However, it marked an escalation in the riots that have seen more than 1,500 vehicles torched, dozens of businesses and schools burned and more than 800 people arrested since the violence began on Oct. 27.

Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

'The law must have the last word': Chirac

Authorities also reported attacks and vandalism in Orleans, Rennes and Nantes, hours after President Jacques Chirac vowed to take a tough line with the rioters.

"The law must have the last word," Chirac warned, after nightly rioting spread from the immigrant-dominated suburbs of Paris to other communities over 11 days.

In his first public comments since the riots started, the president vowed to restore order with arrests, trials and punishment for those responsible for the unrest.

"The Republic is quite determined, by definition, to be stronger than those who want to sow violence or fear," Chirac said after a special security meeting of cabinet ministers.

Shortly after the meeting of ministers responsible for defence, justice, social services, finance and the interior ministry, violence flared in Saint-Etienne, in southern France.

Youths seized a bus, ordered passengers to get off, then torched the vehicle. The driver and one passenger were hurt, officials said.

After the meeting, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters the government will "accelerate judicial procedures" to make sure that those arrested can immediately be brought before special courts.

The violence first broke out in the poor suburbs of Paris after two teenagers of African origin were electrocuted while reportedly hiding from police in an electrical sub-station.

Rioters burned nearly 1,300 vehicles in a variety of locations around country in the 24 hours ending Sunday morning, French media reported.

Young men and boys continued to wreak havoc into the early hours using motorbikes and cars to move from one spot to another to lob Molotov cocktails at buildings and cars and pelt police with rocks.

On Saturday, they burned to the ground two schools in the Paris suburb of Essonne. No one was injured.

An extra 2,300 police officers patrolled in the capital and surrounding communities.

Police used a helicopter with a searchlight to follow bands of youths.

In the Normandy town of Evreux, about 100 kilometres from Paris, 50 cars, schools, a post office and stores were torched on Saturday night, police said.

Many people view the violence as the expression of pent-up anger by the country's unemployed and underemployed youth, particularly in Muslim immigrant communities, and as a sign of the difficulty North Africans have experienced in trying to integrate into French society.

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Rioters shoot police as French president promises crackdown

CBC || November 7, 2005

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