France steps up security after unrest

Enlarge image

By James Mackenzie

VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France (Reuters) - Police stepped up security in northern Paris suburbs on Tuesday to prevent a third night of unrest, after French Prime Minister Francois Fillon vowed a firm line against rioters who attacked police.

Police vans, their sirens blaring and lights flashing, headed towards the northern Paris suburb of Villiers-le-Bel on Tuesday evening as the security build up got underway, a Reuters witness said.

Around 80 police were injured overnight as rioters hurled stones, petrol bombs and firecrackers at police during several hours of skirmishes that left dozens of shops, businesses and public buildings damaged.

Police replied with tear gas and rubber bullets and made five arrests.

"We’re going to do everything so that this evening there is a maximum security presence in Villiers-le-Bel and the neighbouring areas, because the residents should not have to relive another night of violence," Fillon told parliament.

The clashes were "unacceptable, intolerable, incomprehensible" and could not be justified, he said.

"Those who fire on the police and who beat a police officer nearly to death, are criminals and must be treated like criminals," said Fillon.

Five police officers were seriously hurt overnight, including one hit by a projectile apparently fired from .....continued below

Advertisement starts

Advertisement ends

President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet Fillon and his interior and justice ministers to discuss the crisis on his return from China on Wednesday, his spokesman said in a statement. He will first visit injured police officers in hospital.

The violence started on Sunday after two youths died in a collision with police, and pictures of burnt out cars, a school and a library revived images of suburban riots two years ago.

Those disturbances were the worst civil unrest in France for 40 years and many blamed the harsh rhetoric of Sarkozy, who was interior minister at the time, for stoking the violence.

This time, Sarkozy has called for calm and the lower key government response suggested it wants to avoid exacerbating tensions in France’s deprived, ethnically diverse suburbs.

"WORSE THAN 2005"

The latest disturbances distracted from Sarkozy’s success in clinching billions of euros of contracts for French firms on his China trip, and provided a new headache following recent transport strikes and student protests over his reforms.

The local prosecutor said it was a traffic accident although some relatives have questioned police actions after the crash and how quickly help arrived.

Six Socialist mayors in northern Paris suburbs affected by the troubles renewed appeals for calm and urged parents to help them avoid more unrest.

"I ask the families, parents, to keep their children and teenagers at home tonight, because I think we don’t need new violence in the coming nights," Jean-Pierre Blazy, whose Gonesse district was hit by trouble overnight, told reporters.

During his visit in China, Sarkozy urged calm after the initial unrest, comments criticised by Villiers resident Samir Ghrabi.

Page: 12next