Second night of disturbances in Paris suburb

26/11/2007 22:15

By Brian Rohan

VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France (Reuters) - French police fired tear gas and rubber bullets late on Monday during running battles with rioters in a suburb north of Paris where two youths died after a crash involving a police car.

During a second night of disturbances in Villiers-le-Bel, some 160 police in full riot gear were pelted with stones and large fire-crackers that exploded over their heads, a Reuters witness said.

Police replied with tear gas, rubber bullets and paint guns designed to identify troublemakers, and spent cartridges littered streets already strewn with rocks.

Around half a dozen injured officers received treatment in a local fire station used by police as a base. One officer, his face bloodied, had his arm in a sling.

Rioters torched a car, a garbage truck and a police vehicle.

Local mayor Didier Vaillant, who had earlier called for calm, said airguns had been fired. "It looks like it’s going to be a long night," he said.

Unrest was also reported in three nearby districts.

The violence revived memories of the 2005 riots in France’s poor, often ethnically diverse, housing estates when thousands of cars were torched after two teenagers were electrocuted after apparently fleeing police.

Extra police had been drafted into Villiers-le-Bel on Monday in case of a repeat .....continued below

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of disturbances on Sunday, sparked by the deaths of two youths whose moped collided with a police car.

Officials said 28 cars and five buildings were torched, including a police station, in violence that injured 26 police and fire officers. Nine people were arrested on Sunday.

President Nicolas Sarkozy was interior minister during the 2005 riots, when he took a tough line with the rioters which critics said helped stoke the violence.

On Monday, the head of state called for calm.

"I call on everyone to calm down and let the justice system decide who was responsible," Sarkozy told reporters during an official visit to Beijing.

POLICE PROBE

Police have launched an investigation into Sunday’s accident, which involved a police car and a moped driven by youths aged 15 and 16. Police say the moped was stolen and the teenagers ignored traffic regulations.

The investigation will focus on whether the two officers helped the dying youths. Relatives and locals complained the police fled the scene after the incident.

Local public prosecutor Marie-Therese de Givry told LCI television the crash investigator’s preliminary findings showed the youngsters had turned into the path of the police vehicle.

"The mini-moto was in third gear, which means it was going at top speed," she said. "That’s what the expert report says, which confirms the statement by the driver of the police vehicle as well as that of two witnesses."

The officers had immediately called the emergency services. Tapes of the calls and subsequent radio traffic would be studied to see if police followed the correct procedures, she said.

Local inhabitants of the Villiers-le-Bel estate contested that version of events.

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