Highlight: VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France (AP) -- 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.
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. Full Story
You know what? I’ve been searching, and I haven’t seen anyone who claims advocacy for the rioting youths call for them to “stop ruining their neighborhoods.” There really is something to be said for not having a public figure the Establishment can call your leader. Just think, a car accident ignited a riot. Not, a shooting, tasering; nothing we’ve been forced to endure in this free democratic society of U.S.A, no—an accident. Seems to me after the kids set fire to the suburbs back in 2005, people have been trying to find ways to make their society more tolerant of each other instead killing more young men, like we do here in America—New York City specifically.
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. Full Story
You know what? I’ve been searching, and I haven’t seen anyone who claims advocacy for the rioting youths call for them to “stop ruining their neighborhoods.” There really is something to be said for not having a public figure the Establishment can call your leader. Just think, a car accident ignited a riot. Not, a shooting, tasering; nothing we’ve been forced to endure in this free democratic society of U.S.A, no—an accident. Seems to me after the kids set fire to the suburbs back in 2005, people have been trying to find ways to make their society more tolerant of each other instead killing more young men, like we do here in America—New York City specifically.
