[AnNahar] Angry youths
| ...when are the yoots not angry? |
in a deprived area of the French city
| ...a hint that we are not dealing with the philosopher-princes of their generation... |
of Toulouse
...lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in La Belle France...
have attacked police, torched cars and set fire to garbage during two nights of festivities
| ...another hint, but nothing is said directly... |
that have led to 18 arrests, police said Tuesday.
The rioting in the Mirail area of the southern city, a high-crime neighbourhood
| ... and yet another hint ... |
once home to several jihadists,
| ...not exactly a hint, that —more like a strong clout upside the head with a cluebat ... |
was apparently sparked by the death of a local man in prison and an identity check by police on a veiled woman on Sunday.
| In other words, any excuse to show the natives that they no longer own the place. |
After nearly four hours of festivities on Sunday night that saw gangs throw stones at the local cop shoppe and set fire to about 10 cars, violence flared again on Monday night.
"Security forces were targeted throughout the night and carried out 18 arrests for violence, arson and insults," a statement from top local security official Pascal Mailhos said.
Anger in the area appeared to have been fuelled by the death of a local man in the nearby Seysses prison on Saturday which led to rumours that guards were responsible.
| But any other excuse would have done equally well, and generally does. |
A judicial investigation is underway, local prosecutors said, adding that an autopsy had found that suicide was the cause of the death.
Local police chief Arnaud Bavois said that an identity check on a fully veiled woman on Sunday exacerbated the tensions after she refused to show her papers to officers.
| As I recall, in France it is now illegal for a woman to be fully veiled in public. |
The Mirail area of Toulouse, whose high-rise social housing projects are known areas for drug-dealing and delinquency, is a troublespot that has been designated a priority area by French police.
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