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| Europe |
| France stunned by riotersÂ’ savagery |
| 2007-12-02 |
| In retrospect, it was not a good idea to have left his pistol at home. Called to the scene of a traffic accident in the Paris suburbs last Sunday, Jean-François Illy, a regional police chief, came face to face with a mob of immigrant youths armed with baseball bats, iron bars and shotguns. What happened next has sickened the nation. As Illy tried to reassure the gang that there would be an investigation into the deaths of two teenagers whose motorbike had just collided with a police car, he heard a voice shouting: “Somebody must pay for this. Some pigs must die tonight!” The 43-year-old commissaire realised it was time to leave, but that was not possible: they set his car ablaze. He stood as the mob closed in on him, parrying the first few baseball bat blows with his arms. An iron bar in the face knocked him down. “I tried to roll myself into a ball on the ground,” said Illy from his hospital bed. He was breathing with difficulty because several of his ribs had been broken and one had punctured his lung. His bruised and bloodied face signalled a worrying new level of barbarity in the mainly Muslim banlieues, where organised gangs of rioters used guns against police in a two-day rampage of looting and burning last week. Not far from where Illy was lying was a policeman who lost his right eye after being hit by pellets from a shotgun. Another policeman displayed a hole the size of a 10p coin in his shoulder where a bullet had passed through his body armour. Altogether 130 policemen were injured, dozens by shotgun pellets and shells packed with nails that were fired from a homemade bazooka. It prompted talk of urban “guerrilla warfare” being waged on French streets against the forces of law and order. By the end of the week an extraordinarily heavy police presence in Villiers-le-Bel, where most of the rioting took place, appeared to have halted the violence: on top of public transport strikes and student protests against his reform plans, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, could not afford a repeat of 2005, when a similar incident involving the deaths of two youths provoked the worst French urban unrest in four decades. Things were so tense in the suburbs, however, that the riots could easily erupt again with the prospect of deaths on either side setting off a much greater explosion and, conceivably, the deployment of the army to keep peace. “Given the weapons being used, it was lucky that nobody was killed,” said a policeman. Nearby were the charred remains of the local constabulary. The nursery school was burnt down. So was the library. “It felt like they were out to kill us,” said one of the officers in Villiers-le-Bel last week. “We knew that there were weapons in the suburbs, but they have never been turned against us like that. The kids were shooting at us at close range, loading and reloading their weapons. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Sarkozy has ordered a full judicial inquiry into the teenagers’ deaths, even though all the evidence seems to support the police version that the boys were thrown from their unlicensed motorcycle when it accidentally collided with a patrol car. Friends and relatives of the victims dismiss the official account of the incident as fantasy. As for Illy, he says he is not feeling vengeful but has identified one of his attackers from police photographs. He is certain to be able to pinpoint the rest. “Fortunately,” he said, “I’ve got a very good memory.” |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #33 to all of you frenchies out there - stay safe. We wish you well and hope that sanity can find it's way back to you soon. |
| Posted by: Whomong Guelph4611 2007-12-02 22:49 |
| #32 This comissaire is a buddhist (richard gere/dalai lam style) and a self-acknowledged pacifist Forgive my ignorance, but does anyone else think that a pacifist policeman is going to be ineffective in the difficult situations policemen can expect to sometimes find themselves in? I would think that in a sane society, pacifists would be required to go for a more peaceful line of work: medicine, perhaps, or carpentry. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-12-02 22:30 |
| #31 Regards from Chen Keinan. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2007-12-02 20:50 |
| #30 "Two pigs must die tonight!" And you have a police officer, a Chief at that, who went in unarmed and put himself in position of being not only one of the two police who "must die tonight" per the jihadists (stop calling them "youths"), but as chief, came close to the best possible cop to kill per the fatwa. Unarmed, what a fool. |
| Posted by: Pliny Pheath1680 2007-12-02 20:11 |
| #29 A5089 - thanks for providing the perspective of a Rantburger on the scene. Hearing the opinions of people who know more about the subject than the journalists is part of what makes Rantburg so special. |
| Posted by: ryuge 2007-12-02 19:42 |
| #28 Live rounds into the "youth" rioters would do wonders as well. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-12-02 19:24 |
| #27 Force would bring Resentment? What has Dhimmihood brought so far? The 'youts' have raised the bar again with bringing guns into their 'protest' because France simply gave in (yes - I will say 'surrendered') and paid the Jizya in the form of increased handouts to the orcs. What will they bring next? RPGs? I think we will see 'teddy-bear' demands and protests like we saw in Sudan in France in a couple of years, in England in 5, in the USA in 10 - 15. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2007-12-02 19:24 |
| #26 From reading this, French cops don't seem like the brightest bulbs on the tree... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-12-02 18:39 |
| #25 bang bang Maxwell's silver hammer... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-12-02 18:28 |
| #24 was told force would only breed resentment well, that's a fact, but no reason not to do it. If you smack the lil shitheads downs, it's not because you feel their pain, it's because their behavior is causing societal pain and you wish to focus the consequences on those responsible. Taken to logic, they knew the consequences, and to deliver less is irresponsible and encouraging. Rego, go tougher. Beat heads, kill shooters, maim rioters. Deny medical service or any welfare benefits to rioters and crush them it's not that hard...just getting a spine is. I recommend Jack Daniels (for indifference to whiners) and Milk (for spine)...oh, yes, and Hydroshock for ammo? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-12-02 17:35 |
| #23 Indeed, force would breed resentment, but what the phalk is breeding all the hatred ? Why are cars BQed on a regular basis ? What has forced that ? |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-12-02 17:32 |
| #22 I made a similar argument and was told force would only breed resentment. As if these savages need an excuse to resent us. Crush their pitiful rebellion. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-12-02 17:04 |
| #21 Easy to stop this crap. Post shoot-to-kill orders, publicize those orders and make sure you have a number of well-trained snipers who shoot dead any rioter holding a weapon. Period. EOS. |
| Posted by: Brett 2007-12-02 15:26 |
| #20 anonymous5089, defusing is in the eye of beholder. The flare up is not avoidable, the question is not if but when. French gumint better have contingency plans, and those better be no holds barred contingencies. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-12-02 15:02 |
| #19 So, because of years of appeasement strategy by the govt, w/r/t these "Youths," the mobs and their base have reached a critical mass point, where their size intimidates normal law enforcement. In other words, if something triggers a major mob action across France, law enforcement will not be able to handle it, which leaves only the military. Well, Sarkozy, here is the next big challenge to your administration after the train strike. I hope that France can get a handle on this quickly. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-12-02 15:00 |
| #18 Anyway, that guy was courageous, he went to defuse the situation, I take he's an experienced guy with self-assurance (he practices chinese and vietnamese martial arts apparently, he seems to be into the whole asian trip), but he just got his *ss handed to himself by 30+ Youths carrying baseball bats and iron rods - I guess they weren't ready to be defused, heh... |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-12-02 14:55 |
| #17 But he still needed the big stick. To cut him some slack, while I believe this is stooopid from a self-preservation point of view, it actually makes sense... in the french context. Had he taken his duty gun, what would he had done? Shoot his way to safety? The official policy is to avoid any casualties among the Youths, and I don't mean then, but all the time, I clearly remember reading about cops being chased by mobs, and preferring to be beaten up in a doorway rather than shooting to kill. A Youth killed by gunshot??? The gvt is scared sh*tless, the everyday situation is already simmering, to bring calm back at villiers-le-Bel, they had to bring in 1000 men helicopters, and IIUC, gendarmerie armored vehicles... if TSHTF, and you've got a general flare up because there's a "martyr", then, the situation is out of control. In 2005, there was something like 300 cities involved, and the police was simply tasked to avoid casualties, and they were already overstretched, actual repression would have been beyond its scope, army would have been to be called, with perhaps some "loyalty" issues (20% and more Youths among the land army personal), and the possibility the Youths up the ante, with war weaponry that is know to be stockpiled at least in some quantity in the 'hoods (nothing like the thousands of AK kept in eastern Europe ambassies to be used by the commie fitfh column during cold war, though, I'm sure). So, he wouldn't have used his gun anyway, and he would have been beaten AND his gun stolen. So, in context, it was a forethought decision not to take his pistol, silly as it sounds (and is). |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-12-02 14:49 |
| #16 I would tend to trust A5068 on this. Source : Le Figaro - Actualités Commissaire courage raconte son lynchage à Villiers-le-Bel The reference to gere and co is that except the chinese, vietnamese,... buddhist migrants, the vast bulk of the french buddhists, and I mean converts like this commissaire, are following the tibetan diamond vehicle, that is the "hip" tradition of the showbiz people and co. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-12-02 14:39 |
| #15 By the end of the week an extraordinarily heavy police presence in Villiers-le-Bel, where most of the rioting took place, appeared to have halted the violence What was missing was eventually supplied, and it worked. Thus, any trolls are pre-warned not to make snarky comments about how a forceful presence could not possibly work. This comissaire is a buddhist (richard gere/dalai lam style) and a self-acknowledged pacifist, he was at home with his family when he got the call about the developing situation, and he chose to go there even while he was off duty (brave) and he deliberately let his sidearm at home (stoopid) so things wouldn't get out of hand if he was assaulted. I kid you not. I would tend to trust A5068 on this. Mssr. commissaire thought he could do better than President Teddy Roosevelt. Doubtless, he spoke softly. But he still needed the big stick. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2007-12-02 14:23 |
| #14 As for Illy, he says he is not feeling vengeful... And this, is a big part of the problem. These, Youths® need to be on the receiving end of some old fashioned butchery and mayhem. |
| Posted by: Phavising Panda7852 2007-12-02 13:30 |
| #13 If what a5089 says is true - that the commissaire is a pacifist - then it's just as well the commissaire didn't bring his sidearm with him. The muzzies would have taken the weapon away from him. |
| Posted by: Mark Z 2007-12-02 13:25 |
| #12 What did we do to make them so mad ? (/snrk) Time to nuke Villiers-le-Bel. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-12-02 12:44 |
| #11 "They're misunderstood youts, they'll listen to me and sweet reason" *THONK* "or not" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-12-02 12:22 |
| #10 these guys aren't as gracious in accepting your surrender as the Nazis were. The nazis first had to kill 100 000 french soldiers and suffer more casualties and destroyed tanks than what they would suffer while invading russia later. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-12-02 12:21 |
| #9 This comissaire is a buddhist (richard gere/dalai lam style) and a self-acknowledged pacifist, he was at home with his family when he got the call about the developing situation, and he chose to go there even while he was off duty (brave) and he deliberately let his sidearm at home (stoopid) so things wouldn't get out of hand if he was assaulted. I kid you not. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-12-02 12:19 |
| #8 "whiff of grapeshot" |
| Posted by: Angique Gonque2974 2007-12-02 11:50 |
| #7 “I tried to roll myself into a ball on the ground,” Finally, somebody has articulated the Goverments' strategy for dealing with the disaffected youts. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2007-12-02 11:43 |
| #6 "Dont' move I have empty rhetoric and I'm not afraid to use it!" Jean-Francois: never go to a baseball bat/iron bar/shot gun fight empty handed -- these guys aren't as gracious in accepting your surrender as the Nazis were. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2007-12-02 11:41 |
| #5 No, this is not a demonstration getting out of hand. Non-lethal measures are NOT what is called for here. They should treat this as what it is, an act of rebellion against the government and send in the military to /crush/ the rioters so hard they'll be whispering about it in fear for 100 years. What's needed here is machineguns and flamethrowers, as well as a spine. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2007-12-02 11:20 |
| #4 “It felt like they were out to kill us,” said one of the officers in Villiers-le-Bel last week Quickly please, the "Order National du Perception" with V device at once! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2007-12-02 11:02 |
| #3 France stunned by riotersÂ’ savagery <Rocket J. Squirrel>Again??</Rocket J. Squirrel> |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2007-12-02 10:55 |
| #2 This is why my "superslick" and "sticky foam" ideas are good ones. The idea is to capture the entire riot. 100% arrests. This would work more in France because they have a lot stiffer laws for that sort of thing than in the rest of Europe. If they did that two or three times, riots would completely stop as soon as a cop showed up. A three strikes law for rioting would also help a lot. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-12-02 10:48 |
| #1 “Fortunately,” he said, “I’ve got a very good memory.” But you forgot your sidearm. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-12-02 10:46 |