Trouble In The Streets
- November 28th, 2007
- Posted by EUEditor
French police sent in special units to occupy Villiers-le-Bel late on Tuesday local time (27.11.07) expecting a third night of clashes with young rioters.
INJURIES, BLAME AND ARSON
Some eighty police have been injured over two nights in the Northern Paris suburb, which has a large migrant concentration, growing numbers of people, especially the young, and high unemployment.
Last Sunday saw an explosion of anti-police feeling after two teenagers were killed in a collision between their motorcycle and a patrol car.
The police were accused of callously leaving the scene and in reply authorities said the disturbances had become highly organised.
SHOOTINGS AND FEARS OF MORE TO COME
Crowds threw stones or molotov cocktails, and some fired shotguns – the hunting guns wounding five police with pellets, two seriously.
Dozens of cars have been torched and buildings, including a police post, destroyed by fire.
There are fears the trouble will spread to other parts of the city, reviving the wave of rioting by disaffected youth in 2005.
The government of President Nicolas Sarkozy declared the eruption of violence was “unnecessary” and said criminals were involved.