Date: November 4, 2005 8:17:13 AM PST
Subject: [Spy News] French riots spread outside Paris
1-04T155938Z_01_MAR227625_RTRUKOC_0_US-FRANCE-RIOTS.xml
French riots spread outside Paris
Fri Nov 4, 2005 11:00 AM ET
By Kerstin Gehmlich
AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France (Reuters) - Rioters set fire to hundreds of
vehicles in impoverished suburbs of northeastern Paris in an eighth night of
unrest that spread for the first time to other parts of the capital and
towns in France.
Local officials said they had lost patience with the government. Prime
Minister Dominique de Villepin and his rival, Interior Minister Nicolas
Sarkozy, opted for low profiles after days of squabbling over how to handle
the crisis.
Police reported fewer clashes than previous nights and residents said the
Eid al-Fitr holiday ending Ramadan may have calmed areas with many Muslims
of North African and black African origin who feel treated as second-class
citizens.
But the rioting spread, with some attacks reported in western Paris
suburbs -- including the spectacular burning of 23 buses at a depot -- and a
few cars firebombed around Rouen in northern France, Dijon in the east and
Marseille in the south.
The pattern of violence also changed, shifting from crowds clashing with
police to targeted arson attacks, many against businesses and warehouses.
"I've had enough of this," said an angry woman wearing a headscarf in
Aulnay-sous-Bois, a northeastern Paris suburb where a large warehouse was
burned down overnight. "This must stop quickly. It's just not right."
Mayors from the riot-hit areas were also exasperated after Villepin briefed
them on Thursday evening about an "action plan for the suburbs" he aims to
present later this month.
"Many of us told him this isn't the time for an umpteenth plan," said
Jean-Christophe Lagarde, mayor of Drancy. "All we need is one death and I
think it will get out of control."
"IMMENSE VIOLENCE"
Justice Minister Pascal Clement was visibly shaken after being briefed about
a handicapped woman in her 50s who was badly burned on Wednesday evening
when rioters poured petrol on a city bus she was riding in and set it
ablaze.
"This is immense violence," he told reporters in Bobigny, another town in
the Seine Saint Denis department between central Paris and Charles de Gaulle
airport that has been the worst hit. "I think all French are shocked to see
things like this."
With the blazing suburbs making headlines around the world, Foreign Ministry
spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei complained about foreign coverage of the
riots -- without naming any media -- and said foreign tourists were not in
danger.
"One is sometimes surprised at the international coverage of these events,"
he told reporters. "These are very serious incidents ... but we are very far
from such a serious situation as some commentaries or television reports
lead one to think."
Officials in Seine Saint Denis said 187 vehicles had been destroyed there
overnight. Police detained 27 people and reported two injuries.
French media said up to 600 vehicles were destroyed in the whole greater
Paris region, including 23 buses at a terminal in Trappes in the southwest
near Versailles. An amateur video aired on television showed them all in a
row and all in flames.
Security officials said the presence of hundreds of riot police had acted as
a deterrent, but rioters nevertheless set fire to two textile warehouses, a
bus depot and a school.
"Why a school, why a car? What can you say about such blind violence," one
local mayor, Michel Beaumale, said.
FEAR OF VIOLENCE SPREADING
Villepin spent Friday out of public view in his Matignon offices. Mayors who
criticized him expressed concern the rioting could spread to other cities
with similar suburbs that keep the poor far from rich city centers.
Manuel Valls, mayor of Evry south of the capital, said: "We're afraid that
what's happening in Seine Saint Denis will spread. We have to give these
people a message of hope."
Rioting among young men of North African and black African origin -- mostly
locally born citizens who feel cheated by France's official promises of
liberty, equality and fraternity -- began last week after two teenagers of
African origin died while fleeing the police.
Villepin and Sarkozy, whose bitter political rivalry has overshadowed the
government's reaction, teamed up on Thursday to announce that restoring
order was their "absolute priority".
Villepin blamed the riots on gangs he said terrorized residents and sought
to keep police out of their districts, and vowed law and order would be
restored.
In several interviews on Friday morning, conservative politicians said drug
traffickers and Islamist militants were fanning the unrest, although they
gave no details.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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