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French police raid Paris suburb
Enlarge imageVILLIERS-LE-BEL, France (Reuters) - French police launched raids in a Parisian suburb early on Monday, arresting 25 people they suspected of being involved in violent clashes that broke out in the area in November, a police source said.
About a thousand police officers were involved in the operation, which began at about 6 a.m. (5 a.m. British time) in Villiers-le-Bel, to the north of Paris, and neighbouring suburbs.
"Inquiries conducted by the police services since November allowed 36 suspects to be identified, of whom 25 have for the moment been called in for questioning. The operation has gone well so far," prosecutor Marie-Therese de Givry told reporters.
About 60 police officers were injured in the November clashes, which followed the death of two boys in a motorcycle accident with a police car in Villiers-le-Bel.
A library, several public buildings and dozens of cars were burned during the unrest, which reawakened memories of the riots in poor French suburbs in 2005 when youths torched thousands of cars during weeks of clashes with police.
Residents of the multi-ethnic run-down housing estates in the Paris suburbs have cited high unemployment, poverty, police victimisation, and poor housing as factors which contributed to simmering tensions and the outbreak of violence.
However, President Nicolas Sarkozy said in November the violence .....continued below
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in Villiers-le-Bel was the work of a "thugocracy" of criminals and not the result of social deprivation.A junior minister, Andre Santini, also took a firm line on Monday.
"A commissioner was beaten up, police were fired on, the government can’t let that pass," Santini told France 2 television on Monday after the raids had been launched.
"I think it is normal for the government to show that there are no lawless zones."
(Reporting by Thierry Leveque, writing by Swaha Pattanaik, editing by Janet Lawrence)
VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France (Reuters) - French police launched raids in a Parisian suburb early on Monday, arresting 25 people they suspected of being involved in violent clashes that broke out in the area in November, a police source said.
About a thousand police officers were involved in the operation, which began at about 6 a.m. (5 a.m. British time) in Villiers-le-Bel, to the north of Paris, and neighbouring suburbs.
"Inquiries conducted by the police services since November allowed 36 suspects to be identified, of whom 25 have for the moment been called in for questioning. The operation has gone well so far," prosecutor Marie-Therese de Givry told reporters.
About 60 police officers were injured in the November clashes, which followed the death of two boys in a motorcycle accident with a police car in Villiers-le-Bel.
A library, several public buildings and dozens of cars were burned during the unrest, which reawakened memories of the riots in poor French suburbs in 2005 when youths torched thousands of cars during weeks of clashes with police.
Residents of the multi-ethnic run-down housing estates in the Paris suburbs have cited high unemployment, poverty, police victimisation, and poor housing as factors which contributed to simmering tensions and the outbreak of violence.
However, President Nicolas Sarkozy said in November the violence in Villiers-le-Bel was the work of a "thugocracy" of criminals and not the result of social deprivation.
A junior minister, Andre Santini, also took a firm line on Monday.
"A commissioner was beaten up, police were fired on, the government can’t let that pass," Santini told France 2 television on Monday after the raids had been launched.
"I think it is normal for the government to show that there are no lawless zones."
(Reporting by Thierry Leveque, writing by Swaha Pattanaik, editing by Janet Lawrence)
© 2008 Reuters Click for restrictions
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