When the French police learnt that rival gangs were planning a showdown in Paris, they prepared for the sort of violence that has become routine in France’s troubled suburbs.
French police say they’ve seen a 140 per cent increase in violence by teenage girls since 2002
PARIS: When the French police learnt that rival gangs were planning a showdown in Paris, they prepared for the sort of violence that has become routine in France’s troubled suburbs. But even the hardened officers were stunned as they arrived at the scene. The participants, in what has become known as the battle of Chelles bus station, were all girls aged between 14 and 17, the Times of London reported.
“They were fighting like the toughest of boys,” a policewoman who saw the confrontation this month said. “They had knives, screwdrivers, sticks and teargas and they were really going for each other. There must have been about 100 of them — some there as spectators. It was quite frightening and if we hadn’t intervened, it would have ended in a bloodbath.”
Eight girls were arrested and France was caught in anguished debate over les petites terreurs copying the brutal behaviour of their male counterparts. French police say they’ve seen a 140 percent increase in violence by teenage girls since 2002. The conflicts often arise between girls competing for the affection of boys and escalate through the use of cell phone text messages, which tell girls where to meet for a gang fight, the British newspaper reported.
The girls in the battle of Chelles were revealed as ordinary adolescents brought up on multi-ethnic areas where violence has become the norm. They dress with style, use make-up, talk in sweet tones — and think teargas and kitchen knives are appropriate for settling a teenage dispute over boys.
Awa, for instance, is a member of the girl’s gang from Meaux, outside Paris, which confronted rivals from Noisiel, a town 40 km away, at the bus station in Chelles, where they all attend a sixth-form college. “It all began because one of the Noisiel girls started hanging around the boys in Meaux,” said the 16-year-old. “We phoned her up and told her to stop. You don’t start going out with our boys. The girl took the call badly and said she was coming down with some of her friends to do us in. So we had to meet them.”
“It’s all about defending your territory,” said Jenaba, another 16-year-old participant in the battle of Chelles. “We grew up together in Meaux, we have been friends since primary school and we go dancing together. It’s only natural that we should stick together against the Noisiel gang.”
“Some of the girls are incredibly violent these days,” Mohammed, a 16-year-old boy, said. “They’re tougher than us. Just the other day a girl in school chased a boy all the way around the grounds with a knife. He had to climb up a tree to get away from her.”
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