Restive youths burn cars in new suburban unrest
By LAURENT PRIEUR, Associated Press Writer Laurent Prieur, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 10, 7:55 pm ET
BAGNOLET, France – Restive youths in a Paris suburb torched a tourist bus and nearly a half-dozen cars and hurled objects at police early Tuesday, a night after fullblown unrest prompted by the death of a teen fleeing police.
The local prefecture, the administrative center for the region, said the situation was under control despite the scattered torchings.
An Associated Press Television News crew saw at least five torched cars and a burned-out tourist bus near a housing project. Groups of youths set street fires, sometimes fueling them with garbage cans or a mattress in one case and hurled stones and other objects at police.
Authorities had sent teams of riot police into the Bagnolet suburb just east of Paris after a night of violence following the Sunday night death of an 18-year-old pizza deliverer fleeing police on his motorcycle.
Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux had called for calm, signaling fears that unrest by angry suburban youth could worsen. Hortefeux ordered an internal police investigation into the death.
A helicopter beamed a spotlight into the area early Tuesday as bands of youth set fires and taunted police in a cat-and-mouse game typical of suburban unrest in France. The prefecture said some people were detained but provided no number.
A night earlier, some 40 people hurled Molotov cocktails at police and firefighters, torched dozens of cars and one person fired a handgun during a rampage hours after the death of the young man.
About 40 vans of riot police were seen parked outside the housing project Monday night.
Some witnesses claimed a police car hit the young motorcyclist after he tried to flee a document check outside the project. "I saw it with my own eyes .... He didn't stop (and) they hit him," Alexandre Matthias told iTele TV station.
However, Philibert Demory, deputy prosecutor of Bobigny, which handles the region, said that "as it stands so far there is no element to show contact" between the two vehicles. He asked witnesses to come forward.
The teenager lost control of his motorcycle and hit a metal barrier; he then died en route to the hospital, police said.
Youths hurled Molotov cocktails and projectiles at police and emergency workers on the scene, and one person fired a handgun at police, Hortefeux's office said in a statement.
The rioters set fire to 29 cars and smashed windows of a high school and store, the statement said. One person was detained and order was restored after police reinforcements arrived.
Flowers and a note were left at the metal barrier to mark the young man's death.
Hortefeux insisted that "all light will be shed" on the cause of the young man's death with an internal investigation.
"I want it (the results) to be made public as quickly as possible," Hortefeux said Monday evening. The inquiry will be "serious, deep, honest," he promised.
Hortefeux announced a meeting Aug. 31 with the top government officials in charge of urban and youth policies and neighborhood associations to try to "establish a peaceful dialogue" in violence-stricken suburbs.
The scenario — the death of a youth with police directly or indirectly involved — mirrors other incidents that have triggered unrest. Tensions between young people and police have long simmered in housing projects in France's suburbs, feeding on poverty, unemployment and anger over discrimination against minorities.
The suburbs erupted in 2005 in riots, largely by young Arab and black men of immigrant backgrounds, after two teens were electrocuted in a power substation while hiding from police. The riots spread nationwide.
Violence broke out in November 2007 in Villiers-le-Bel, north of Paris, after two teenage boys were killed in a motorbike crash with a police car. Police and local officials said it was an accident, but many residents were unconvinced.
By LAURENT PRIEUR, Associated Press Writer Laurent Prieur, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 10, 7:55 pm ET
BAGNOLET, France – Restive youths in a Paris suburb torched a tourist bus and nearly a half-dozen cars and hurled objects at police early Tuesday, a night after fullblown unrest prompted by the death of a teen fleeing police.
The local prefecture, the administrative center for the region, said the situation was under control despite the scattered torchings.
An Associated Press Television News crew saw at least five torched cars and a burned-out tourist bus near a housing project. Groups of youths set street fires, sometimes fueling them with garbage cans or a mattress in one case and hurled stones and other objects at police.
Authorities had sent teams of riot police into the Bagnolet suburb just east of Paris after a night of violence following the Sunday night death of an 18-year-old pizza deliverer fleeing police on his motorcycle.
Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux had called for calm, signaling fears that unrest by angry suburban youth could worsen. Hortefeux ordered an internal police investigation into the death.
A helicopter beamed a spotlight into the area early Tuesday as bands of youth set fires and taunted police in a cat-and-mouse game typical of suburban unrest in France. The prefecture said some people were detained but provided no number.
A night earlier, some 40 people hurled Molotov cocktails at police and firefighters, torched dozens of cars and one person fired a handgun during a rampage hours after the death of the young man.
About 40 vans of riot police were seen parked outside the housing project Monday night.
Some witnesses claimed a police car hit the young motorcyclist after he tried to flee a document check outside the project. "I saw it with my own eyes .... He didn't stop (and) they hit him," Alexandre Matthias told iTele TV station.
However, Philibert Demory, deputy prosecutor of Bobigny, which handles the region, said that "as it stands so far there is no element to show contact" between the two vehicles. He asked witnesses to come forward.
The teenager lost control of his motorcycle and hit a metal barrier; he then died en route to the hospital, police said.
Youths hurled Molotov cocktails and projectiles at police and emergency workers on the scene, and one person fired a handgun at police, Hortefeux's office said in a statement.
The rioters set fire to 29 cars and smashed windows of a high school and store, the statement said. One person was detained and order was restored after police reinforcements arrived.
Flowers and a note were left at the metal barrier to mark the young man's death.
Hortefeux insisted that "all light will be shed" on the cause of the young man's death with an internal investigation.
"I want it (the results) to be made public as quickly as possible," Hortefeux said Monday evening. The inquiry will be "serious, deep, honest," he promised.
Hortefeux announced a meeting Aug. 31 with the top government officials in charge of urban and youth policies and neighborhood associations to try to "establish a peaceful dialogue" in violence-stricken suburbs.
The scenario — the death of a youth with police directly or indirectly involved — mirrors other incidents that have triggered unrest. Tensions between young people and police have long simmered in housing projects in France's suburbs, feeding on poverty, unemployment and anger over discrimination against minorities.
The suburbs erupted in 2005 in riots, largely by young Arab and black men of immigrant backgrounds, after two teens were electrocuted in a power substation while hiding from police. The riots spread nationwide.
Violence broke out in November 2007 in Villiers-le-Bel, north of Paris, after two teenage boys were killed in a motorbike crash with a police car. Police and local officials said it was an accident, but many residents were unconvinced.
