Woman Set on Fire: Riot in France

[Darkdale]

Woman Set on Fire

AUBERVILLIERS, France — Marauding bands of Muslim youth set fire to cars and warehouses and pelted rescuers with rocks early Saturday, as the worst rioting in a decade spread from Paris to other French cities. The United States warned Americans against taking trains to the airport via strife-torn areas.

A savage assault on a bus passenger highlighted the dangers of travel in Paris' Muslim-filled and impoverished outlying neighborhoods, where the violence has entered its second week.

The African immigrant attackers doused the woman, in her 50s and on crutches, with an inflammable liquid and set her afire as she tried to get off a bus in the suburb of Sevran (search) Wednesday, judicial officials said. The bus had been forced to stop because of burning objects in its path. She was rescued by the driver and hospitalized with severe burns.

This happened yesterday. What the hell is going on in France?

 

[robtex]

DD we need to find a french paper in english. I watched the news in Austin on friday and one of the stations was saying it was an ongoing muslim protest to French counter-terroist activites but the clip was too quick and vague to be informative. I am gonna go hunting for a french paper and post what I find.

 

[Darkdale]

DD we need to find a french paper in english. I watched the news in Austin on friday and one of the stations was saying it was an ongoing muslim protest to French counter-terroist activites but the clip was too quick and vague to be informative. I am gonna go hunting for a french paper and post what I find.

Well, there is also some rioting over some teenagers that were executed I think. Not sure... I'll keep looking.

 

[Fluffy]

Well, there is also some rioting over some teenagers that were executed I think. Not sure... I'll keep looking.

Executed? They don't have the death penalty in France :S.

 

[Darkdale]

Executed? They don't have the death penalty in France :S.

I can't find the article. Again... but I had sent it to my brother. Maybe he has it... maybe I didn't understand it or I missed something. Every article I'm reading is different.

 

[BUDDY]

Two muslim youths were running from the police and tried to climb a fence at a power station in which they planned to hide. Unfortunately they didn't see the sign that said, "Danger Electric Fence", and they were electricuted to death. I am not sure how or why, but somehow that incident sparked the ongoing protest. I saw this on the news last night, and will look for a link for your information.

 

[Darkdale]

Youth Electrocuted

The violence — sparked after the Oct. 27 accidental electrocution of two teenagers who believed police were chasing them in Seine-Saint-Denis — has laid bare discontent simmering in France’s poor suburbs ringing big cities. Those areas are home to large populations of African Muslim immigrants and their children living in low-income housing projects marked by high unemployment, crime and despair.



"Violence is not a solution," Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, accused of stoking passions by calling troublemakers "scum", told reporters after the Villepin meeting.

"Once the crisis is over, everyone will have to understand there are a certain number of injustices in some neighborhoods. We are trying to be firm and avoid any provocation. We have to avoid any risk of explosion," he said.

ok, I did misunderstand. lol They weren't executed, they were Electrocuted. Thanks EEWRED.

 

[robtex]

Good catch Eewren! I forgot that part. Here are some french articles I found. Not much about this.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site...eek+of+violence+prompts+French+soul-searching

http://www.expatica.com/source/site...vernment+powerless+in+face+of+spreading+riots

Not much on this. Bet it will take an understanding of Islamic culture in Paris and France to get a wrangle on this one.

 

[BUDDY]

Not much on this. Bet it will take an understanding of Islamic culture in Paris and France to get a wrangle on this one.

Truer words were never spoken my friend. I have been sitting here and looking for some type of commentary that may give some insight into what made an entire group of people suddenly explode into violence like this, but I am not having any luck yet. If anyone can find something that may explain it from a social, economic or ethnic standpoint, please share. I am at a loss.

 

[Sunstone]

Here's a source on the roots of the riots:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1104/p06s02-woeu.html

 

[BUDDY]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/10/31/france.riots.reut/index.html
Okay, so it seems that this incident may be the latest in what seems to be interpreted by the muslim community as police brutality. The French Interior Minister seems to have made it a goal to "crack down" on crime in the area, and in that process, his police accidentally (?) popped a tear gas grenade into a local mosque, which really made things escolate quickly. I'll try to dig up more.

 

[Pah]

Woman Set on Fire



This happened yesterday. What the hell is going on in France?

- A desparate call for a correction to a long standing complaint - not that I condone violence.

 

[jonny]

Come on. The French are just trying to protect their culture. Who cares what the immigrants think or believe?

 

[Pah]

Rage of French Youth Is a Fight for Recognition
Spreading Rampage in Country's Slums Is Rooted in Alienation and Abiding Government Neglect

By Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, November 6, 2005; Page A01

Registration may be required

LE BLANC-MESNIL, France, Nov. 5

...

While French politicians say the violence now circling and even entering the capital of France and spreading to towns across the country is the work of organized criminal gangs, the residents of Le Blanc-Mesnil know better. Many of the rioters grew up playing soccer on Rezzoug's field. They are the children of baggage handlers at nearby Charles de Gaulle International Airport and cleaners at the local schools.

"It's not a political revolution or a Muslim revolution," said Rezzoug. "There's a lot of rage. Through this burning, they're saying, 'I exist, I'm here.' "

Such a dramatic demand for recognition underscores the chasm between the fastest growing segment of France's population and the staid political hierarchy that has been inept at responding to societal shifts. The youths rampaging through France's poorest neighborhoods are the French-born children of African and Arab immigrants, the most neglected of the country's citizens. A large percentage are members of the Muslim community that accounts for about 10 percent of France's 60 million people.
...

 

[FFH]

Burning 100 cars in retaliation of two accidental deaths. Is this another excuse to start another cycle of violence ??? It is only going to escalate from here in other countries. People looking for excuses to justify violence and hate.

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.) was the only news station that was willing to give the reason behind these riots in France. It was very clear. A young Muslim man said that it was done to get the attention of the government in France, because of poverty and unemployment among the Muslims in that area. I am sure that the accidental electricutions of these two young Muslim boys added fuel to this fire of discontent and started the cycle of violence.

 

[michel]

This morning, on English TV, an American reporter (who I believe lives in France) described the situation as being that of the French middle and upper class of Paris, having to go in and out of Paris (by Car) for their "Le week end" closing their eyes, with a clothes peg on their noses.


The suburbs of Paris (on all sides) are full of destitute, unemployed, embittered immigrants. There is, as yet, no solution.

 

[WillieHutch]

i just read this morning there are over 1300 cars torched and it's extended to schools and such.

apparently, it started on the outskirts of Paris where there is a higher concentration of immigrants and housing projects and has spread into Paris proper as well as outside to other cities.

class-based violence scares the living crap out of me.

 

[michel]

New powers to tackle French riots
A bus is set alight in the southern city of Toulouse
The French Government has authorised a range of emergency powers in an effort to combat 12 nights of rioting.

The move, announced by interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy, allows local authorities to impose curfews and lets police perform raids without warrants.

The city of Amiens is the first to declare an overnight curfew, affecting unaccompanied under 16-year-olds. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has outlined to MPs an accompanying programme to improve social conditions.




The nightly protests have gripped deprived areas with large African and Arab communities where unemployment is rife and residents complain of racism and discrimination.


The republic is at a moment of truth
Dominique de Villepin
French prime minister
Measures announced by the prime minister include a jobs programme and funding for teaching in deprived areas.

An agency will be set up with the aim of combating racial discrimination.

"Our collective responsibility is to make difficult areas the same sort of territory as others in the republic," Mr de Villepin said.

But he said the restoration of law and order to the country's largely immigrant suburbs would take time and hard work.


KEY FLASHPOINTS




"The republic is at a moment of truth," he said. "What is being questioned is the effectiveness of our integration model."

Unrest continued on Monday night, although Paris saw a lull for the first time.

But across the country 1,173 cars were burnt and 330 arrests made. Twelve police officers were also injured.

Law for Algeria

Amiens, in the northern Somme region, has become the first city to declare a curfew under the new powers, which were approved in a special Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.


CURFEW LAW
Cabinet can declare state of emergency in all or part of the country
Regional leaders given exceptional powers to apply curfew and restrict movements
Breach of curfew could mean a fine or two-month jail sentence
Police can carry out raids on suspected weapons stockpiles
Interior minister can issue house-arrest warrants for persons considered dangerous to public safety
Public meeting places can be closed down
House searches possible day or night
Authorities can control press or broadcast media, film and theatre performances
State of emergency can only be extended beyond 12 days if approved by parliament


Minors will be subject to the law between 2200 and 0600 (2100 and 0500 GMT) unless accompanied by an adult, and are also banned from buying petrol.

Two Paris suburbs, Savigny-sur-Orge and Raincy, as well as the historic city of Orleans, have already declared separate curfews not covered by the law.

The emergency powers were invoked under a 1955 law and it is the first time it has been implemented in mainland France.

The law was originally passed to combat violence in Algeria in its war of independence against France from 1954-62.

It was also used in New Caledonia in 1985.

Monday saw rioting in the southern city of Toulouse, where a bus was torched, and Lille in the north, where a creche was burned down and vehicles set alight.

Two schools were also torched in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardie regions, north of Paris.

Return to calm

In Paris, where on Sunday the violence escalated to the point where two police officers were shot and wounded, there was a night of relative calm.


FRENCH RIOTS
One man killed
5,873 cars torched
1,500 people arrested
17 people sentenced
120 police and firefighters injured
Figures as of 8 November



Some 17 cars were reported to have been burned overnight, but the BBC's Johnny Dymond said areas that had been at the centre of previous violence were virtually deserted.

The unrest was first sparked by the deaths in the run-down Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois of two youths, who were accidentally electrocuted at an electricity sub-station.

Locals said they were being chased by the police, but the police deny this.







Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/4416728.stm

Published: 2005/11/08 18:33:41 GMT

© BBC MMV

 

[Solon]

It's a case of the have not's, saying loud and clear that they have had enough of not having enough. There are large numbers of disenchanted and poverty stricken people in all Western countries, perhaps they are simply saying, are you going to listen to us or keep on ignoring us ?

Solon