France on Fire

[red-beard]

Riots Plague Paris Suburbs for Sixth Night
Wednesday, November 02, 2005

•Tension Mounts in Troubled Suburbs of Paris After Five Nights of Rioting by Muslim Youths•IOC Chief Wants Armstrong Inquiry •Bomb Manual Found in Suspect's French Home•Manslaughter Trial of Former Concorde Exec Begins•France Nabs Nine in Terror Sweep•Chirac Misses Cabinet Meeting Due to Hospitalization•Four Held in Paris Fire That Killed 15•French Gov't Closes Paris Squatter Havens
PARIS — Unrest spread across troubled suburbs around Paris in a sixth night of violence Tuesday as police clashed with angry youths and scores of vehicles were torched in at least nine towns, local officials said.

Police in riot gear fired rubber bullets at advancing gangs of youths in Aulnay-sous-Bois — one of the worst-hit suburbs — where 15 cars were burned, said the prefecture that runs the Seine-Saint-Denis (search) region. Youths lobbed Molotov cocktails (search) at an annex to the town hall and threw stones at the firehouse. It was not immediately clear whether there were injuries from the clashes.

Four people were arrested for throwing stones at police in nearby Bondy where 14 cars were burned, the prefecture said. A fire engulfed a carpet store, but it was not immediately clear whether the blaze was linked to the suburban unrest.

Officials gave an initial count of 69 vehicles torched in nine suburbs across the Seine-Saint-Denis region that arcs Paris on the north and northeast.

The area, home mainly to families of immigrant origin, often from Muslim North Africa, is marked by soaring unemployment and delinquency. Anger and despair thrive in the tall cinder-block towers and long "bars" that typically make up housing projects in France.

No trouble was immediately reported in Clichy-sous-Bois (search), where rioting began Thursday following the accidental deaths of two teenagers hiding to escape police in a power substation.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy — blamed by many for fanning the violence with tough talk and harsh tactics — met Tuesday night in Paris with youths and officials from Clichy-sous-Bois in a bid to cap days of rioting. But the unrest spread even as they met. Sarkozy recently referred to the troublemakers as "scum" and "riffraff."

An Associated Press Television news team witnessed confrontations between about 20 police and 40 youths in Aulnay-sous-Bois (search) with police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

Officials said that "small, very mobile gangs" were harassing police and setting fires to garbage cans and vehicles throughout the region.

France-Info radio said some 150 blazes were reported in garbage bins, cars and buildings across Seine-Saint-Denis. The unrest highlighted the division between France's big cities and their poor satellites.

Tension had mounted throughout Tuesday after young men torched cars, garbage bins and even a primary school 24 hours earlier. Scores of cars were reported burned Monday night in Clichy-sous-Bois and 13 people were jailed.

Youths set two rooms of a primary school in Sevran on fire Monday along with several cars, Mayor Stephane Gatignon (search) said in a statement.

Unrest was triggered by the deaths of two teenagers electrocuted in a power substation where they hid to escape police. A third was injured. Officials have said police were not pursuing the boys, aged 15 and 17.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met Tuesday with the parents of the three families, promising a full investigation of the deaths and insisting on "the need to restore calm," the prime minister's office said.

Discuss...

[Joe Bob]

Discuss...

Why?

It's France....fuchem

[legion]

http://www.despair.com/effort.html

[dhoward]

Unrest was triggered by the deaths of two teenagers electrocuted in a power substation where they hid to escape police. A third was injured. Officials have said police were not pursuing the boys, aged 15 and 17.

No kidding?

"Hey, lets hide in here....now, where's the light swit....zzzzzzzt..."

[RANDY P]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113247/

Damn good movie.


rjp

[creaturecat]

Originally posted by mikez
Discuss...

Why?

It's France....fuchem

Friends don't let friends drive drunk!

If your country had listened to France you would not be up to your collective necks in *****.

[RANDY P]

Originally posted by creaturecat
Friends don't let friends drive drunk!

If your country had listened to France you would not be up to your collective necks in *****.

You'll sing a different tune when we annex Canada as the 51st state..

When that happens I'll order you shipped to Siberia where you belong.

rjp

[bryanthompson]

burn baby burn!

Don't worry cat, France will completely surrender to these rioters within 24 hours.

[RallyJon]

Originally posted by creaturecat
If your country had listened to France you would not be up to your collective necks in *****.

Perhaps you didn't read the article. France is just now finding out how deep the ***** is.

There's some scary ***** out there. We recognize it and confront it. France downplays it and appeases it. France and the other countries that took the same approach are finding out the ***** is all around them, and getting deeper.

Who needs to listen?

[austin552]

Wooohaaaa.....

[Andras Nagy]

Having lived in France for three years (after having lived in Switzerland), the problem seems to me that the French try so hard to be "tolerant" of others, when those same others are not tolerant of the French and THEIR society.

The French have their problems with the muslims because the muslims want to stay muslims and not assimilate. The Swiss have their turks, the Germans their Russians, and the USA their Hispanics problems.

When people move into a homogeneous country, and don't assimilate, you will always get friction. When the Hunargians, the Poles, the Slovaks, the Italians, the French moved into the USA in past years, they learned English and assimilated. The current generations are not doing this.

So then why are they moving here anyway, if they don't want to assimilate?

[legion]

Originally posted by Andras Nagy
Having lived in France for three years (after having lived in Switzerland), the problem seems to me that the French try so hard to be "tolerant" of others, when those same others are not tolerant of them French and THEIR society.

Sounds very familiar...I've heard that word, "tolerance", used before..

[Andras Nagy]

Hi Legion,

If you are referring to the times during the Second World War, do note that most Jewish people did assimilate into their countries; they were, in fact, IN their own countries. The German Jews spoke German, the French Jews spoke French, and the Hungarian Jews spoke Hungarian.

It was Hitler who didn't tolerate THEM. But that's another kind of "intolerance" than what is happening in France.

The problem seems to be that the muslims are not tolerating anyone who is not muslim, unlike the French, who seem to try to tolerate the muslims without making them Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish.

Without the "them" and "us" labels, you would not have hate. Perhaps New Hampshire has it right (and it is on their license plates, or at least it should be, and once was petitioned to be) "Live and Let Live". I know, I know, it is really "Live free or Die", but it really wants to be "Live and Let Live".

Has anyone else read that amongst all the poeple in the world there are only one or two chromosomes that are different in us all? Blacks, browns, yellows, whatever, are ALL THE SAME genetically. We all have two eyes, two nostrils, two legs, two arms, etc. etc. And they're all the same basic shape!!!!!

Why has religion perpetuated so much hate?

[legion]

Not at all what I was saying.

Having graduated from college in the past 5 years, professors and student groups shoved "tolerance" down my throat. I was taught that it is okay for Green Peace to kill people if they might harm animals, but if I use the word "chick" to refer to a woman (a term a picked up from a former girlfriend, mind you) I am a female oppressor and as bad as a rapist.

As for WWII, I would say that Neville Chamberlain was the one who preached "tolerance" in the "modern" sense--give in to violent madmen and all will be well...

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally posted by Andras Nagy
...and the USA their Hispanics problems....When people move into a homogeneous country, and don't assimilate, you will always get friction. ...

Assimilate? Heck, my kids are learning spanlish faster than you can flip a tortilla! Them Mexicans are happy as clams coming over here and working for 1/2 of what our lazy anglo arse's won't do.

You don't see any Mexicans rioting in the streets of Dallas, Houston, San Antonio or any other part of the US. Not that they aren't hot tempered, they just are happy to be able to work and have a decent life reletive to where they came from.

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by creaturecat
If your country had listened to France you would not be up to your collective necks in *****.

The advice we received from France was motivated by pure unwashed French selfishness; certainly not an ounce of care or concern for America or oppressed Iraqis.

It was all about oil, cat...for the French, Germans, Russians and UN...and Bill Clinton's buddy Mark Rich.

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally posted by creaturecat
...If your country had listened to France you would not be up to your collective necks in *****.

rather be knee deep in ***** than blather and run like a pussywuss

[Andras Nagy]

Hi Legion,

You are so right!!!!

In fact, it was my dad who said that it was Roosevelt who sold Western Europe (including Hungary) down the river, during Yalta when Stalin demanded and got all of Eastern Europe. It seems that both Churchill and Roosevelt were physically ill during that Yalta Conference, and they didn't have the phsyical, and thus moral, strength to oppose Stalin. It took only 44 years for that to be corrected, no?

Sigh, man's intolerance of man..............

[legion]

Originally posted by Andras Nagy
In fact, it was my dad who said that it was Roosevelt who sold Western Europe (including Hungary) down the river, during Yalta when Stalin demanded and got all of Eastern Europe. It seems that both Churchill and Roosevelt were physically ill during that Yalta Conference, and they didn't have the phsyical, and thus moral, strength to oppose Stalin. It took only 44 years for that to be corrected, no?

Yep. Yalta wasn't too long before Roosevelt's death. His head wasn't in the game. Stalin took full advantage of the situation. Churchill knew what was going on, but wasn't in a place to override Roosevelt. In a very morbid way, it's funny how one man's illness affected so many people for decades after his death. Roosevelt's big mistake was taking all of the repsonsibility for himself, so that when his health did decline there was no one in a position to compensate or take over.

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by Andras Nagy
In fact, it was my dad who said that it was Roosevelt who sold Western Europe (including Hungary) down the river, during Yalta when Stalin demanded and got all of Eastern Europe. It seems that both Churchill and Roosevelt were physically ill during that Yalta Conference

FDR didn't want to upset Stalin's spies in his Administration...political correctness and all.