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| Muslims are waging civil war against us, claims police union | |||
| 2006-10-05 | |||
| Radical Muslims in France's housing estates are waging an undeclared "intifada" against the police, with violent clashes injuring an average of 14 officers each day. As the interior ministry said that nearly 2,500 officers had been wounded this year, a police union declared that its members were "in a state of civil war" with Muslims in the most depressed "banlieue" estates which are heavily populated by unemployed youths of north African origin. It said the situation was so grave that it had asked the government to provide police with armoured cars to protect officers in the estates, which are becoming no-go zones. The number of attacks has risen by a third in two years. Police representatives told the newspaper Le Figaro that the "taboo" of attacking officers on patrol has been broken. Instead, officers – especially those patrolling in pairs or small groups – faced attacks as soon as they tried to arrest locals. Senior officers insisted that the problem was essentially criminal in nature, with crime bosses on the estates fighting back against tough tactics. The interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also the leading centre-Right candidate for the presidency, has sent heavily equipped units into areas with orders to regain control from drug smuggling gangs and other organised crime rings. Such aggressive raids were "disrupting the underground economy in the estates", one senior official told Le Figaro. However, not all officers on the ground accept that essentially secular interpretation. Michel Thoomis, the secretary general of the hardline Action Police trade union, has written to Mr Sarkozy warning of an "intifada" on the estates and demanding that officers be given armoured cars in the most dangerous areas. He said yesterday: "We are in a state of civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists. This is not a question of urban violence any more, it is an intifada, with stones and Molotov cocktails. You no longer see two or three youths confronting police, you see whole tower blocks emptying into the streets to set their 'comrades' free when they are arrested." He added: "We need armoured vehicles and water cannon. They are the only things that can disperse crowds of hundreds of people who are trying to kill police and burn their vehicles."
Mayors in the worst affected suburbs, which saw weeks of riots and car-burning a year ago, have expressed fears of a vicious circle, as attacks by locals lead the police to harden their tactics, further increasing resentment.
The mayor of Les Mureaux, Francois Garay, criticised aggressive police tactics that afterwards left "the people on the ground to pick up the pieces".
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| Posted by:Nimble Spemble |
| #17 This is PRECISELY what should be happening in Baghdad as well. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-10-05 18:32 |
| #16 It's going to take a full-scale combined ops organized raid to get this back under control. They should be surrounding one or two tower blocks at night, going from apartment to apartment to check the papers of each family. Anyone who isn't in France legally is in the deportation system pipeline out of the country before morning. Anyone who has an outstanding warrant goes straight to jail. Anyone who resists is shot. The French know how to do this. Paul Aussaresses, Jacques Massu and Roger Trinquier worked the Casbah in Algiers in exactly this way and broke the FLN in the city for the remainder of French rule. Aussaresses is still alive. I'm sure he'd be happy to advise. |
| Posted by: mac 2006-10-05 18:31 |
| #15 Grapeshot mixed with bacon should work even better. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-10-05 17:47 |
| #14 Bullies only understand brute force. Time to apply some. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-10-05 17:09 |
| #13 Close down the Mosques, turn them into whore houses, ban islam and deport anyone from a muslim country. Grapeshot too. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2006-10-05 16:36 |
| #12 Muslims are waging civil war against us, claims police union Finally noticed that, did they? Must have been the detectives who managed to figured out that brain teaser. I'll go with post # 1. Por encourager les autres. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-10-05 15:21 |
| #11 I actually think the most remarkable thing about this piece is the comment of Thoomis. I don't know how widely his comment is reported in France He represents the right-wing, anti-system police union Action Police CFTC, he gets zero msm coverage, excepted when a press agency quotes him; only media where this union is present is the conservative-rightwing-catholic-libertarian free radio, Radio-Courtoisie; the others police unions are socialist-leaning like Alliance, or close to the power like Synergie. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-10-05 12:51 |
| #10 The claasic The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-10-05 12:22 |
| #9 A sane man -> Michel Thoomis said yesterday: "We are in a state of civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists. This is not a question of urban violence any more, it is an intifada, with stones and Molotov cocktails. You no longer see two or three youths confronting police, you see whole tower blocks emptying into the streets to set their 'comrades' free when they are arrested." He added: "We need armoured vehicles and water cannon. They are the only things that can disperse crowds of hundreds of people who are trying to kill police and burn their vehicles." However a Phrench poop feathered chicken said-> Gerard Demarcq, of the largest police unions, Alliance, dismissed talk of an "intifada" as representing the views of only a minority. Phrench poop feathered chicken Demarcq said that the increased attacks on officers were proof that the policy of "retaking territory" from criminal gangs was working. Additional poop feathered Mayors in the worst affected suburbs, which saw weeks of riots and car-burning a year ago, have expressed fears of a vicious circle, as attacks by locals lead the police to harden their tactics, further increasing resentment. As if to prove the poop point, there were angry reactions in the western Paris suburb of Les Mureaux following dawn raids in search of youths who attacked a police unit on Sunday. The raids led to one arrest. They followed clashes on Sunday night when scores of youths attacked seven officers who had tried to arrest a man for not wearing his seat belt while driving. That driver refused to stop, and later rammed a police car trying to block his path. The poop feathered mayor of Les Mureaux, Francois Garay, criticised aggressive police tactics that afterwards left "the people on the ground to pick up the pieces". |
| Posted by: RD stringer for al-Reuters 2006-10-05 12:11 |
| #8 "Undeclared" intifada? It's been planned, an ongoing, for years -- just because an official spokesman has gone on national television to formally declare it in a way that those who choose not to know can no longer deny doesn't make it "undeclared". This overly punctilious PC attitude has been getting people killed over there! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-10-05 12:03 |
| #7 Maybe instead of talking about it the French should just get the water cannons out next time this happens, and go for a full scale attack. Then retreat claiming that the area has been taken over by gangs, this allows the military to be brought in as the police were 'overwhelmed' and 'couldn't cope' this would be a legal enough way to deal with the situation. |
| Posted by: Addis 2006-10-05 12:02 |
| #6 I actually think the most remarkable thing about this piece is the comment of Thoomis. I don't know how widely his comment is reported in France (A5089, JFM?), or if he has been saying it for some time, but it is interesting how it follows the Pope's comments, at least into English. I suspect one of the Pope's intents in making them was to release the debate within Europe from the bonds of PC control and this is an early example. I read that as good news, actually. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-10-05 11:32 |
| #5 Thanks for this post, NS. This shows the situation is much more dire than we in US realize. If the French don't back police use of heavy force, they'll be fighting for themselves(or surrendering). This should already have elevated past police action, to the military. It is very common here to immediately get our National Guard into the streets when serious riots occur. The thought of armed troops in the area usually causes the thugs to think much more carefully about their actions. Someone nearby who has an M16 and knows how to shoot, can do a lot of damage in a very short time. Punks know that and respond accordingly. |
| Posted by: SpecOp35 2006-10-05 11:26 |
| #4 I believe the renowned |
| Posted by: RWV 2006-10-05 11:26 |
| #3 152mm demolition guns should do the trick. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-10-05 11:15 |
| #2 No, they just need to respond to violence with grapeshot. Under orders. You can bet there are French laws allowing the use of lethal force to deal with insurrection. They should be applied. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-10-05 11:11 |
| #1 He added: "We need armoured vehicles and water cannon. They are the only things that can disperse crowds of hundreds of people who are trying to kill police and burn their vehicles." Okay, it's horrible, but I'm gonna say it anyway. They need bullets. They need one guy to take out a bunch of rioters and then turn himself in French law. This will (a) show the rioters that force begats force and that someone will fight back (b) show everyone that French law works as they prosecute the guy (c) Show the Islamist masses how popular this guy becomes with the people of France at a time when they are considering upping the heat. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-10-05 10:58 |