Chirac vows action as rioters torch 1,400 vehicles
Foreign Desk Report
GRIGNY (France)—Rioters shot and wounded police and torched 1,400
vehicles in the worst violence since unrest erupted in France's poor
suburbs 11 days ago, and a man beaten by a youth became the first
fatality on Monday.
France's worst violence in decades defied a vow by President Jacques
Chirac to defeat the troublemakers and has grown worse daily since
erupting in a Paris suburb on October 27, prompting warnings it could
hit investment and tourism in France.
One of France's largest Muslim organizations, reacting to official
suggestions that Islamist militants might be orchestrating some of the
protests, issued a fatwa against the unrest, but violence reached new
levels overnight.
In the most serious incident, youths at a housing estate in Grigny,
south of Paris, ambushed police with rocks, petrol bombs and guns. Two
policemen were seriously hurt by pellets shot into their neck and legs.
"This is real, serious violence. It's not like the previous nights. I am
very concerned because this is mounting”, said Bernard Franio, head of
police for the Essonne area south of Paris, after about 200 youths
attacked his colleagues in Grigny.
A policeman at the scene held up a shotgun cartridge for cameras.
Rioters fired live rounds at police and fire crews on Wednesday night,
but no injuries were reported.
"There were burned cars all over the place and helicopters circling
overhead”, said Yvonne Roland, who has lived in Grigny for 25 years.
"Burning cars make a big impression, the flames were really high. It
made you feel like you were in a war zone”.
Hospital officials and an Interior Ministry spokesman said Jean-Jacques
Le Chenadec had died after being beaten in another riot-hit suburb on
Friday.
The newspaper Le Parisien said the victim was 60 and had been in a coma
since being attacked by a youth outside his home in the suburb of
Stains.
The government has struggled to formulate a response that could halt the
riots, sparked by frustration among ethnic minorities over racism,
unemployment and harsh treatment by police. The police union Action
Police CFTC urged the government to impose a curfew on the riot-hit
areas and call in the army to control the youths, many of whom are
French-born citizens of Arab or African origin complaining of racism.
The violence began with the accidental electrocution of two youths
fleeing police outside Paris and has spread to other towns and cities.
"Nothing seems to be able to stop the civil war that spreads a bit more
every day across the whole country”, the CFTC said in a statement. "The
events we're living through now are without precedent since the end of
the Second World War’.
The head of the employers' group expressed concern about the impact the
unrest could have on tourism and investment in France, where sluggish
growth is stifling job creation. "France's image has been deeply
damaged”, Laurence Parisot told Europe 1 radio. Australia, Britain,
Canada, Russia and the United States have all urged their citizens to be
careful in areas affected by the riots. Interior Minister Nicolas
Sarkozy's tough line has been widely criticized. But Chirac's demand
that order be restored before any other measures are taken appeared to
endorse his minister, who visited the injured policemen in hospital.
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