Posted on 11/26/2007 6:40:02 AM PST by drzz
PARIS, Nov 26, 2007 (AFP) - A French judge ordered a manslaughter inquiry on Monday after the death of two teenagers in a crash with police sparked a night of rioting in a flashpoint Paris suburb. The violence was some of the worst since nationwide riots in 2005, which erupted in similar circumstances. The two youths, aged 15 and 16, died after their motorbike collided with a police car in the high-immigration suburb of Villiers-le-Bel on Sunday evening. Six hours of clashes followed. Gangs of youths used guns against police, according to one police union, as they torched some 30 cars and looted shops and buildings. Twenty-five police and one firefighter were injured, officials said. Calm was eventually restored just after midnight. About 100 youths thronged the crash site on a high-rise housing estate, accusing police of fleeing the scene. A state prosecutor said she had ordered an internal police investigation for "involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist persons in danger" following the deaths of the two youths. Police said the bike smashed into the side of their car during a routine patrol. Neither youth was wearing a helmet, according to witnesses. Omar Sehhouli, brother of one of the victims, accused police of ramming the motorbike and of failing to assist the injured teens. "This is a failure to assist a person in danger... it is 100-percent a (police) blunder. They know it, and that's why they did not stay at the scene," he told France Info radio. "I know they will say they left because they were afraid of clashes or of being assaulted... but up until now we have had no apology from the police chief." Police made nine arrests as rioters torched a police station, two garages, a petrol pump and two shops, and pillaged the railway station in neighbouring Arnouville. Officials said there were reports of "small groups attacking shops, passers-by and car drivers" to rob them. One suspect was arrested carrying jewelry from a looted store. Sehhouli told AFP the rioting "was not violence but an expression of rage," saying he wanted the police officers "responsible" for the accident to be brought to justice. Locals said that rampaging youths burned cars to prevent police from entering the area. Forensic experts were finally able to access the crash site at around midnight. The police vehicle sustained serious damage to the front, although the motorbike was apparently little damaged. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie offered condolences to the victims' families, saying it was "tragic to see the lives of two young people cut short." The police union Alliance also offered condolences, but said it was "unacceptable for a gang of delinquents to use this tragedy as an excuse to set the town on fire". "Thugs did not hesitate to use firearms against law enforcement officials," it said. Police and politicians warned the French suburbs remain a "tinderbox" two years after the 2005 riots, which exposed France's failure to integrate its large black and Arab population, the children and grandchildren of immigrants from its African colonies. The accidental death of two youths allegedly fleeing police sparked three weeks of nationwide riots in 2005, France's worst social unrest in decades. President Nicolas Sarkozy, a former interior minister widely reviled in the suburbs for his tough stance on law and order and immigration, has promised a "Marshall Plan" to tackle exclusion and high unemployment in the suburbs. Details are to be announced in January. But the head of the opposition Socialist Party, Francois Hollande, said Sunday's violence was further proof of the "deep social crisis" gripping the French suburbs.
The chief of the French police investigation announced the policemen “were not responsible” for the accident.
Looks more like French Africa than France.
The apology from the police they are waiting for should read, “Sorry you guys are such idiots!” Followed by, “And please go home.”
The Dutch, the English, etc., should take a lesson.
By the way, the two teenagers were on STOLEN bicycles when they crashed with the police.
It is all BS. I just returned from Paris literally YESTERDAY. Did not see any of this type of thing. I wonder if they are taking pictures of some other city and selling them like Paris. /sarc. I definitely did not see this type of situation during the last four days we were in Paris.
Isn't France about the same as England when it comes to gun control? We have a registry and still own guns, but it was my understanding that most European countries have taken that one step further?
It happens in the suburbs, around Paris.
From the 4 million inhabitants of Paris, 1.5 million are muslims and live in the suburbs.
Did you go to Nanterre, Clichy, Courneuve, 15 mn from Paris’s Champs-Elysées ?
You would have witnessed this violence.
The joys of European multi-culturalism and the Religion of Peace.
This sounds more like a civil war than a "riot".
By the way, a civil war is one in which two factions within the same country seek control of the government.
The American Civil War was not a civil war - it was a failed second war for independence, as the South had no intention of taking over and ruling the North.
You probably didn’t visit the banlieus?
Agreed. The last time I was in Paris was during all of the highly reported riots a few years back. It was all taking place in one of the suburbs. The rest of the city was completely quiet and peaceful. From the reports on the news, you would have thought the Louvre had been torched.
Yes, Europe is against gun, but as you may have seen, the “youth” have as much concern for the law as everything else in France.
Looking at those crash pictures makes you ask:
What kind of police car was that? And what kinda bike did it hit?
Most motorcycles in Paris (and especially any driven by the minority community) are either scooters or crotch rockets versus some mega-cruiser.
The pictures don’t make sense.
I hope for your own sake your new government fixes the problems and worries less about appeasement. I have some hope seeing who got elected.
I did, and it was two decades ago. Paris is like other cities. Neighborhood people stick to their own sections. But on New Years Eve, on the Champs Elysees, the muslim teenage boys were trouble, even in the 1980’s. They figured out that Japanese girls didn’t put up much of a fight so they were out there groping them. They also would just mace the crowd for no good reason at all.
If the citizens start using firearms, I hope that’s the cue for cops to use their own on those shooting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.