Dozens of youths stoned a police station early Wednesday in a second night of trouble in a rough Paris suburb, as authorities arrested a youth whose injury — along with the death of two friends — sparked last year's wave of rioting. Street violence opposing local gangs and police continued late Tuesday and early Wednesday in both towns, as youths attacked a police station, set ablaze a dozen cars and rained stones down on public buildings.Four police officers were lightly wounded while protecting the Montfermeil police station from stoning by a gang of around 30 youths. Four other officers, visibly rattled, managed to get out of their car, in front of the Bosquets public housing estate on the border of the two towns, after youths set it on fire, AFP witnessed. A helicopter with a spotlight canvassed the neighbourhood throughout the night, on the alert for new flare-ups. Five youths were arrested — among them Muhittin Altun, who narrowly escaped electrocution in October after hiding from the police in a power sub-station. Altun, released Wednesday morning with a court summons, was detained in Clichy-sous-Bois on charges of pitching rocks at a police car. His lawyer denied the charge.
The Montfermeil area has been tense since the centre-right mayor passed a tough anti-crime decree — later blocked by the courts — forbidding young people from gathering in the streets. On Monday, the Montfermeil town hall and the mayor's home were attacked by gangs of masked youths wielding sticks and baseball bats. A 250-man police contingent was sent to quell the unrest, which left seven officers lightly injured.
France's tough interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, pledged late Tuesday he would clamp down on any further violence. "I won't let chaos be stirred up anywhere in France," he said. Speaking to a group of policemen, he described Monday's violence in Montfermeil as a well-orchestrated strike. "More than 100 troublemakers set upon you, masked and carrying weapons," he said. "It's impossible to deny the evidence: this was premeditated."
Left-wing municipal authorities in Montfermeil said Monday's incidents were sparked by the "heavy-handed" arrest of a woman from the Bosquets estate whose son was wanted in connection with a robbery. But Sarkozy brushed aside the criticism — saying said it showed only that "by battling delinquency, we have upset some of the delinquents." Two police unions, Alliance and the SCHFPN, charged meanwhile that a "weak judicial response" to local crime had "encouraged a hard core of delinquents".