Weeklong riots spread to 20 more French
towns
The Associated Press
AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France — A week of riots in poor
neighborhoods outside Paris gained dangerous new momentum
Thursday, with youths shooting at police and firefighters and
attacking trains and symbols of the French state.
Facing mounting criticism, Prime Minister Dominique de
Villepin vowed to restore order as the violence spread to at
least 20 towns, highlighting the frustration simmering in
housing projects that are home to many North African immigrants.
Police deployed for a feared eighth night of clashes after
bands of youths lobbing stones and petrol bombs ignored
President Jacques Chirac’s appeal for calm.
Riots erupted in an outburst of anger in Clichy-sous-Bois
after the Oct. 27 accidental electrocution of two teenagers who
fled a soccer game and hid in a power substation when they saw
police enter the area. Youths in the neighborhood suspect that
police chased the teens to their deaths.
Since then, riots have swelled into a broader challenge
against the French state and its security forces. The violence
has exposed deep discontent in neighborhoods where African and
Muslim immigrants and their French-born children are trapped by
poverty, racial discrimination and crime.
The Interior Ministry released a preliminary report Thursday
exonerating officers of any direct role in the teenagers’
deaths.
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