[News] Paris Riots Spreading

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Paris Riots Spreading

Paris, Nov 4 (Prensa Latina) Fresh rioting in the impoverished suburbs of 
north-eastern Paris spilled into Friday as groups of violent youths 
continued their rampage for the eighth consecutive night.

Police said that rioters set fire to more than 160 vehicles in the Paris 
region and 33 in the provinces, but the eighth night though was calmer than 
Thursday when 315 cars were torched in the Ile-de-France region around the 
French capital.

Rioting among young men of North African and black African origin began 
last week after two teenagers of African origin died while apparently 
fleeing the police.

The rioters are mostly locally born citizens who feel cheated by France´s 
official promises of liberty, equality and fraternity.

Police said several cars in the eastern city of Dijon were set alight, 
while similar attacks took place in the western Seine-Maritime region and 
the Bouches-du-Rhone in the south of the country.

Buses, fire engines and police were again pelted with stoned in the Paris 
suburbs, with five policemen reported slightly injured by projectiles, but 
there were fewer direct confrontations between police and "troublemakers", 
according to a police spokesman.

One of the worst incidents took place at Neuilly-sur-Marne where police 
vans came under fire from pellet pistols, but nobody was hurt. 
Neuilly-sur-Marne is in the worst-hit north-eastern region of 
Seine-Saint-Denis, where 1300 officers were deployed, and more than 30 
people were arrested there and elsewhere.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met local officials late on Thursday 
to brief them about an "action plan for the suburbs" he aims to present 
this month.

"The priority is restoring public order because this violence is 
unacceptable. But I also want to start a dialogue," he told reporters 
afterwards.

But local officials complained loudly about dithering and politicking among 
national leaders.

mh/ajs


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