#3 Amsterdam PD isn't as meeching as the French.
Not that I like much the police, which is politicized and often is very zealous in going after the rightwingers, but...
French police is known to crack heads when needed (doest Amsterdam PD have the equivalent of the french BAC, small teams of plainclothes policemen who go on "contact" with the Youths, tonfas & saps first?), and have no compulsion on not using deadly force when authorized to, though the Gign tends to try to avoid killing... but, appeasement is the word, and police is told "not to provoke".
It's a (deliberate) lack of will from the pols which spread down to the police hierarchy, not a supposed tradition of softness or restraint, just think about the parisian police's handling of commie and fln demonstrations during the algeria war. French Elites have decided than stamping down the drug industry managed by the Youths, and the violent sub culture of the "hoods" was too dangerous, and that the problem was now unmanageable, and the best was to leave them alone and keep the subsidies going their way to placate them. In 2005, the french police was very courageous and effective, in that the orders, as it is now known, were to avoid any casualties among the rioters to avoid a general uprising and agitation from the far left; so, the cops kept getting stoned, thrown molotov cocktails, sometimes shot at, and it went on and on, and they never reacted with "disproportionate force". For this, blame the pols, but kudos to the police for its discipline and professionalism. |
Unidentified individuals have for the fourth night in a row set fire to a car in Amsterdam West. This time the arson took place in the Burgemeester van der Pollstraat, a spokesperson for the police said.