Posted by
Ron on Saturday, October 21, 2006 10:31:33 PM
France has big problems:
FLAMES lick around a burning car on a tiny telephone screen. Omar, 17,
a veteran of France’s suburban riots, replayed the sequence with pride.
“It was great. We did lots of them and then we went out and torched
more the next day.” Omar, whose parents immigrated from Mali, was savouring memories
of the revolt that erupted 12 months ago from his home, the Chêne
Pointu estate in Clichy-sous-Bois, in the eastern outskirts of Paris.
“We’re ready for it again. In fact it hasn’t stopped,” he added.
Before
next week’s anniversary of the Clichy riots, the violence and despair
on the estates are again to the fore. Despite a promised renaissance,
little has changed, and the lid could blow at any moment.
The figures are stark. An average of 112 cars a day have been
torched across France so far this year and there have been 15 attacks a
day on police and emergency services. Nearly 3,000 police officers have
been injured in clashes this year. Officers have been badly injured in
four ambushes in the Paris outskirts since September. Some police talk
of open war with youths who are bent on more than vandalism.
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