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| French police heighten security on riot anniversary |
| 2006-10-27 |
| France's interior minister ordered police to go on maximum alert in at-risk areas around the country after several buses were torched in suburbs ahead of the anniversary of widespread rioting last year. "I decided to mobilize all mobile forces at our disposal for the security of those who use public transport,'' Nicolas Sarkozy, a conservative frontrunner in next year's presidential elections, said overnight Thursday. A car was burned and a police officer slightly injured near the home of Xavier Lemoine, the conservative mayor of the town of Montfermeil, near Paris, police said Friday. "The officer was slightly injured when a stone was thrown as he tried to put out a fire after a car was torched in the street where the mayor lives,'' said a police spokesman. Mr Sarkozy spoke after a meeting with transport officials on the eve of the first anniversary of three weeks of violent clashes between armed youths and police in suburbs throughout France, when more than 10,000 cars were set alight and 300 buildings firebombed. Mr Sarkozy said that all "sensitive (bus) lines'' would be protected at crucial times. "We will do everything possible to ensure that public services are not disrupted anywhere in this country,'' he said. He did not give details but said that a meeting would be held Friday with police chiefs and transport companies "to finalize necessary measures''. Mr Sarkozy called for an investigation into what led young people to set fire to buses after drivers who were attacked in the latest violence said that the assailants were very young. The media should also act responsibly in reporting on the anniversary of last year's violence to avert copycat crimes, he said. "We should not give any publicity to people who want nothing else,'' he said. In the runup to the anniversary armed youths had hijacked and set fire to a bus in the suburbs of Paris Thursday while hooded gangs torched two others overnight Wednesday. Around 10 masked men - five of them carrying handguns - forced the driver and passengers off a night bus heading from Bagnolet to Montreuil, on the eastern edge of the capital, at around 1:00 am on Thursday morning. Earlier, hooded youths had set fire to a bus in the western suburb of Nanterre, not far from the La Defense business district, leaving passengers scrambling to escape, firemen and police said. A dozen youths boarded the bus, threw an inflammable liquid inside, lit it and fled. A third attack took place in Athis-Mons south of Paris, where police said three masked youths ordered passengers off a bus, hurled a Molotov cocktail inside and fled. The driver managed to put out the flames. Outside Paris, in a suburb of the central-eastern city of Lyon, a bus was also torched by vandals as it was parked in a depot. Police have warned of an increase in tensions in recent weeks. Officers have on several occasions been the targets of ambushes in the Paris suburbs. The spark for last year's rioting was the accidental deaths of two local teenagers in the run-down Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, who were electrocuted while hiding from the police. Town residents are to hold a silent march in tribute to the two boys on Friday, before unveiling a monument in their memory. Later Friday, the town has planned an evening of concerts, films and debates. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #3 Sarky, the situation is getting away from you. So far, these brave "youths" have allowed passengers to get off the buses before lighting them off. What are ya gonna do when they decide they'll get more attention by burning buses with passengers aboard ? You better quit playing games with the "youth." I noticed since something occurred near a mayor's residence, this promoted some reaction. Do over running of estates have to occur before any serious government retaliation happens ? |
| Posted by: SpecOp35 2006-10-27 11:40 |
| #2 This problem is not restricted to France. Will someone please explain to me why rioters are not shot on sight? We have the means to deal with any such apprehended insurrection in short order: Why don't we? It is a moral insanity to fret unduly at the fate of face of the torch-wielding mob and not at that of commuters, presumably mainly composed of the elderly, the infirm, students and the poor. These last groups deserve our compassion and our protection. The mob deserves only what it gets. |
| Posted by: Flea 2006-10-27 10:54 |
| #1 "Heightened security"? The jihadis torch; the cops are allowed to watch, and make arrests for "Islamophobia." Security for the terrorists. |
| Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 2006-10-27 03:59 |