French youths use firearms against cops

80 policemen are injured as the worst violence to hit France since 2005 spreads to the suburbs

PARIS: A second night of riots by youths in a Paris suburb left more than 80 police injured, buildings gutted and France on Tuesday facing heightened tensions in towns ringing the capital.

After the worst violence since major unrest erupted in 2005, President Nicolas Sarkozy was to chair a special meeting on the violence on Wednesday, after he returns from a state visit to China. Late into the night, around 100 young men again hurled petrol bombs and bricks at police in the town of Villiers-le-Bel, where on Sunday two teenagers were killed in a motorbike collision with a police car. 
  
Several buildings were damaged by fire in Villiers, just north of Paris, including a tax office, a supermarket, a library and a nursery school, as well as 63 vehicles. Six people were arrested during the troubles, which lasted about six hours, police said. Authorities said guns were used against police and police unions described the violence as worse than the rioting that hit French cities in November 2005 — also sparked by the deaths of two youths. 
  
Eight two officers were injured on Monday, four of them seriously after being hit by buckshot from hunting weapons. The Synergie police union said the youths had used “urban guerrilla” tactics against security forces. “Two things are cause for anxiety: signs that the violence is spreading to neighbouring areas, which have already had their share of burned cars, and the almost systematic use of fire-arms against police,” said Douhane Mohamed of the Synergie police union. “We are coming close to a catastrophe with the use of firearms against police,” said another police officer.

Smaller outbreaks of violence also flared in five other high-immigration neighbourhoods of the north Paris suburbs, not far from the starting-point of the 2005 riots. Prime Minister Francois Fillon visited the scene on Tuesday and announced a beefed up security presence for the night to come. “While justice is taking its course, nothing can justify the violence that took place. These acts are unacceptable, they are intolerable. People who fire guns at police are criminals and will be treated as such,” he said.

An initial investigation appeared to confirm the police version of Sunday’s incident, according to which the two teenagers — neither wearing a crash helmet — were riding a motorbike that careered into their car.