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Europe
Fewer carbeques to ring in New Year
2008-01-02
VANDALS torched 372 cars as France celebrated the New Year, down on the figure last year after a night the police described as "relatively calm".

Cars are burned fairly regularly in France and the image of vehicles in flames in poor suburbs became symbolic of riots in 2005 when angry youts youths set fire to thousands of cars. There is usually an increase in the number of cars torched on New Year's Eve compared to other days of the year. At the height of the 2005 riots as many as 1400 cars were attacked in overnight violence. In protests over President Nicolas Sarkozy election last May, demonstrators set fire to 730 vehicles.

“The night was relatively calm, without notable incident, there were very few direct clashes with the security forces,” said a spokesman for the national police.

The Interior Ministry said 372 vehicles had been burned - 144 in the Paris region and 228 in the rest of France. That was down from 397 last New Year's Eve. Police had stepped up their presence on French streets in anticipation of the year-end celebrations and the sale of petrol in cans was banned in some places.
Posted by:Steve White

#3  Insurance companies do NOT make money by paying on claims. They prefer to collect premiums. One little earthquake in California and they stop issuing quake policies. I imagine it's the same with flood policies in New Orleans. The question then becomes, how much are the premiums for car insurance in France?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2008-01-02 12:06  

#2  There's got to be a scam of some sort behind this

agreed
Posted by: Whomong Guelph4611   2008-01-02 11:47  

#1  This continues to amaze me. A5089 has stated that this goes on daily and peaks up on special occasions like holidays. I'd still like to know who pays ? There's got to be a scam of some sort behind this. Does the gov't provide stipends for destroyed vehicles? Is this what they do to old vehicles which don't run to obtain a new vehicle which does function ? What's the deal ?
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907   2008-01-02 09:52  

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