Those "Youth" Riot in France -- Again

Inspired by the Mayor's recent post on the media's coverage of the rioting criminals in Paris protests by oppressed "youth," I thought I would post the story below by the Associated Press's Nicolas Garriga. The writer tries really hard to bury the ethnicity (and religion) of the riotting "youths."


Associated Press: Youths riot for 3rd night outside Paris By NICOLAS GARRIGA

Youths rampaged for a third night in the tough suburbs north of Paris and violence spread to a southern city late Tuesday as police struggled to contain rioters who have burned cars and buildings and — in an ominous turn — shot at officers.

A senior police union official warned that "urban guerrillas" had joined the unrest, saying the violence was worse than during three weeks of rioting that raged around French cities in 2005, when firearms were rarely used.

Bands of young people set more cars on fire in and around Villiers-le-Bel, the Paris suburb where the latest trouble first erupted, and 22 youths were taken into custody, the regional government said. In the southern city of Toulouse, 20 cars were set ablaze, and fires at two libraries were quickly brought under control, police said.

[...]

The government was striving to keep violence from spreading in what was shaping up as a stern test for new President Nicolas Sarkozy. The unrest showed anger still smolders in France's poor neighborhoods, where many Arabs, blacks and other minorities live largely isolated from the rest of society.

The trigger was the deaths Sunday of two minority teens when their 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.

Rioting and arson quickly erupted after the crash. The violence worsened Monday night as it spread from Villiers-le-Bel to other impoverished suburbs north of the French capital. Rioters burned a library, a nursery school and a car dealership and tried to set some buildings on fire by crashing burning cars into them.

Officials have pledged tough punishments for rioters: Eight people were convicted Tuesday in fast-track trials and sentenced to 3-10 months in prison, the regional government said.

[...]

Patrice Ribeiro of the Synergie police union said rioters this time included "genuine urban guerrillas," saying the use of firearms — hunting shotguns so far — had added a dangerous dimension.

[...]

One rioter with a shotgun "was firing off two shots, reloading in a stairwell, coming back out — boom, boom — and firing again," said Gilles Wiart, No. 2 official in the SGP-FO police union.

Youths, many of them Arab and black children of immigrants, again appeared to be lashing out at police and other targets seen to represent a French establishment they feel has left them behind.

"I don't think it's an ethnic problem," Wiart said. "Most of all it is youths who reject all state authority. They attack firefighters, everything that represents the state."

Suspicion of the police runs high among people in the drab housing project where the two teenagers died in the crash. The boys were identified in French media only by their first names, Lakhami, 16, and Mouhsin, 15.

There have long been tensions between France's largely white police force and the ethnic minorities trapped in poor neighborhoods.

[...]

"The problem of bad relations between the police and minorities is underestimated," said criminologist Sebastian Roche.

[...]

The rioting youths "want Sarkozy — they want him to come and explain" what happened to the two teenage boys, said Linda Beddar, a 40-year-old mother of three in Villiers-le-Bel. Beddar woke Tuesday to find the library across from her house a burned-out shell.

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. The government is keen to keep the new violence from spreading.

In Villiers-le-Bel late Monday, arsonists set fire to the municipal library and burned books littered its floor Tuesday. Shops and businesses were also attacked, and more than 70 vehicles were torched, authorities said.

Rioters even rammed burning cars into buildings, trying to set the structures on fire, authorities said. Police reported six arrests.

Several hundred youths organized in small groups led the rioting in Villiers-le-Bel, and incidents were also reported in five other towns north of Paris, the regional government reported.

It refused to give specific figures on injuries among the police, rioters or other civilians, or the numbers of cars and buildings set on fire, saying it feared that doing so would encourage youths to try to wound more officers and destroy more property.

References in the above article:

"Youths" -- 7

"Rioters" -- 6

"Teens" -- 3

"Teenagers" -- 1

"Arsonists" -- 1

"Boys" -- 1

"Minorities" -- 1

"Ethnic minorities" -- 1

"Urban guerrillas" -- 1

"Genuine urban guerillas" -- 1

"Arab and black children" -- 1

"Muslim" -- 0

Nor is the AP the only news organization with the courage of Neville Chamberlain. Oh no. Political correctness is very much an epidemic.

From the New York Times: “The number of police officers injured during clashes by French youths in a suburb north of Paris rose to 86. . .”

Time: “Fears of renewed nationwide rioting that rocked France two years ago grew Monday evening, when youths from a suburban Paris housing project staged a second straight night of battles with police... Over 100 youths from the suburb of Villiers-le-Bel 12 miles north of Paris pelted riot police...”

CBC: "Angry youths fought running battles with police for a second night in a row in neighbourhoods outside Paris, injuring more than 77 police officers following the death of two teens..."

The Australian: "FRENCH police fired tear gas today during running battles with rioters in a suburb north of Paris where two youths died after a crash involving a police car."

The BBC: “The youths said they were avenging the two teenagers killed when their motorcycle hit a police car on Sunday... Relatives of the two dead teenagers insisted that police had rammed their motorcycle, and then abandoned them to die."

Bloomberg: “Youths fought police for a second night in suburbs north of Paris... Youngsters threw stones and Molotov cocktails, burning shops, vehicles, a school, a library and a tax office.”

National Post: "French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged on Wednesday to punish rioters who shot at police... Youths in Paris suburbs and the southwestern city of Toulouse torched a library... But officials reported no major clashes between youths and police, who were out in force after two nights of running battles with youths in northern Paris suburbs."

Chicago Tribune: "The government deployed riot officers to the worst-hit town, Villiers-le-Bel, again on Wednesday night after President Nicolas Sarkozy promised tough punishment for rioters who fired at police with shotguns earlier in the week...The trigger for the riots was the deaths Sunday of two teenage boys..."


"What liberal media?" -- Eric Alterman


~ Cross posted at marknicodemo.mu.nu.