It looks like the week-old rioting in France is getting worse:
Angry youths clashed with police and firefighters outside Paris late Wednesday in the worst of seven straight nights of violence set off by the accidental death of two teenagers. By late Thursday, more cars were burning in at least one of the city’s northern suburbs.
A group of youths danced around a car they had set on fire in a Paris working-class district Wednesday night, the seventh night of clashes.
Gunshots were fired at police officers and firefighters in three separate incidents Wednesday night, said Prefect Jean-François Cordet, the government’s top official in Seine-St.-Denis, a department north of Paris that includes a belt of working-class neighborhoods with a large immigrant population from North Africa and the sub-Saharan region.In the clashes on Wednesday night, a police station was ransacked, a garage was set on fire and a shopping center and two schools were vandalized, Mr. Cordet said. Riot police forces have used tear gas and rubber bullets to repel the attacks.
I haven’t been following this closely, so I do not know how much of this is fueled by the Muslim underclass out of religious fervor, anger over economic disparities, or both, but it sure is a mess. According to what I heard on the news, the French authorities believe the worst is over.
And since this is the French, some obligatory snark:
Let’s face facts…the French are in a quagmire. This is looking like another Vietnam. The insurgents are winning and gaining support each night. Of course, America is to blame. The invasion of Iraq has inflamed the passions of the Arab street. Who knew that the first Arab street to erupt would be in Paris, but it’s still America’s fault.
Chirac has no choice but to surrender now. A new, pro Arab government, similar to the Vichey French will need to be set up, of course.But no need to worry…Chirac can convene the government in exile. Probably at the Hotel/Casino “Paris” in Las Vegas.
In all seriousness, I hope they gain control and the violence stops.
John S.
Hear, hear. I just hope I don’t see any wishing of doom and destruction on France by
any Fox News anchors‘Five in the Noggin’ Gibson this time.Darrell
Downtrodden, oppressed French youths ‘light up’ handicapped bus passenger
you mean how the French have reacted with glee to every American death in Iraq or the disasters from Katrina?
Kimmitt
Seriously, this is a total quagmire. Over 2000 French solders dead and tens of thousands of French Muslim immigrants.
Scott Free
8 days of riots, hundreds of cars burned, shops looted, shots fired, police and firefighters afraid to go into certian neighborhoods and now it has spread to 20 towns outside of Paris.
If this were happening in the U.S. it would be front page news, with representatives from every major TV network, newspaper and news magazine elbowing their way to the money shots of burning cars to hyperventilate about how American society is falling apart, about how the countries leaders don’t care about the poor, yada, yada, yada.
I didn’t see one thing about the Paris riots in the newspapers till yesterday (day 7). Why do you think that is?
Chris P
Because it’s a foreign country?
Darrell
Give it time. The French Infitada is just beginning… 400 cars and 32 buses burned in 3 days, rioters shooting with real (banned) bullets.. time to call for UN intervention
Steve S
Oh come on people! Things are not as bad in France as the Liberal Slime media is reporting.
Nobody is talking about the wonderful schools the French are building, or the water treatment plants.
You are disgracing the honor and integrity of our soldiers by claiming things are going so bad!
Darrell
French Prime minister Villepin wants to have a ‘dialogue’ with the rioters to address their grievances against France
Darrell
Midnight basketball programs for the rioter? Hey, if it’s good enough for Al Gore…
Steve S
Fuck Dialogues! French Prime Minister Villepin ought to gun them all down!
That’s the only way to deal with an insurgency. KILL THEM ALL AND LET GOD SORT IT OUT!
Darrell
As they say in France, Pffft
jg
Have the french surrendered yet…to the other french?
gus
Lead bullets work a whole lot better than rubber ones. Stupid frogs.
Scott Free
I didn’t see one thing about the Paris riots in the newspapers till yesterday (day 7). Why do you think that is?
Chris P Says:
Because it’s a foreign country?
Funny – Hurricane Katrina made the cover of the Economist (a British publication) days after the event, while the current issue only has one paragraph on the French riots. Provincialism, or acute embarrassment at news that makes the “European model” look bad?
demimondian
They’re practicing safer shots.
Seriously, I’ve wondered when the French would have to pay the piper for their racist policies. A plan where Le Pen can capture 20+% of the vote is riding hard for trouble.
Lines
Darrell says:
Just like every other liberal, cheering on the deaths of our soldiers, having parties, smiling for the cameras. The sound of corks popping almost set off a seismic shift when the US reached 2000!
And yes, Darrell, you are a disgusting bag of slime for posting that crap, this is beneath most of the posters here, why do you have to continue to lower the bar?
Shygetz
I was wondering when the French would have to pay for the rapid influx of a people with a strong religious and ethnic identity into a strongly secular population. Oh, you mean the Muslims ended up ghetto-ized, you had racial tensions, and now the minority is pissed off? Gasp–quel suprise!
Darrell
Speaking of ‘lowering the bar’, did you hear about the French book alleging that the US govt orchestrated 9/11? It was a best seller in France, #1 on Amazon.fr for quite a while
demimondian
I think that the secularism of the French people is exaggerated. France operates on a sort of reflexive Catholicism — there’s no ban on wearing a cross to school, but there’s a ban on head scarves? Hmm…doesn’t sound like secularism to me.
Don’t get me wrong: the Muslim immigrants have been building their own jail in the northeastern suburbs…but the French were their willing accomplices.
Darrell
I thought they banned crosses and the Star of David too. I’m not 100% sure about that, but I believe they did
Rick
… this is beneath most of the posters here…
My eyes over the past few months tell me there is no such thing possible.
Cordially…
Krista
I don’t really recall hearing that on the news, but if it was, it’s probably due to sensationalism. Strangely enough, when I was in France, any time the topic came up, most French people with whom I spoke were actually very upset that U.S. soldiers were being killed, and felt very bad for them for being in such a terrible situation. They didn’t have a whole lotta love for the U.S. government, though.
In other words, they seemed to feel pretty much the same way that most other nations do right now, including mine.
John S.
It must be awfully difficult to determine where the bar actually is when you live permanently beneath it…
neil
Speaking of ‘lowering the bar’, did you hear about the French book alleging that the US govt orchestrated 9/11? It was a best seller in France, #1 on Amazon.fr for quite a while
Here in America, though, we know that intellectual curiosity is a sign of decadence.
I thought they banned crosses and the Star of David too.
They banned the Star of David and “oversize crosses.” You can still wear a traditional cross. Figure that out.
Pug
They banned the Star of David and “oversize crosses.” You can still wear a traditional cross. Figure that out.
I think they also banned girls wearing the chador, or whatever they call it there, in school, too.
Darrell
Yes, the same type of ‘curiosity’ of those who who write and buy books denying the holocaust. Same thing with the French bestseller on 9/11
Well, you may be right, but there is a lot of this type crap in the French newspapers. That cartoon, with American soldiers snipered/killed to spell the word paix (peace) was in Liberation, one of the largest French newspapers. Then this and this from LeMonde, the largest newspaper in France would indicate a bit of anti-American hatred. I’m not cherry picking either.. I’ve seen LOTS of similar uncontroversial-in-France editorial cartoons from major French newspapers. Here we laugh about ‘Freedom Fries’ while the French laugh about snipered GI’s. It doesn’t ‘prove’ the French are gleeful over American military casualties, but it sure looks to me like they are
scs
Yes I’ve also wondered about the lack of coverage in the US and British papers. Perhaps the media are afraid of inspiring similar strife in their own countries. I’d like to see some rioters interviewed and find out what exactly their beef is. It can’t just be economic as I thought they all had pretty good benefits in France.
Mr.Ortiz
Nothing I’ve read (other than Andrew Sullivan) suggests any religious component to these riots. It’s a race riot, same as we’ve had in the US more than once. You wouldn’t call the Rodney King riots “christian”, would you?
I’ve seen other blogs call Sullivan a racist, but I never knew what they were talking about until now. I’m aware that “muslim” isn’t a race, but every post he’s made on the subject is dripping with the insinuation that muslims are naturally violent and don’t have a place in the civilized world. Show me a muslim clergyman–hell, anyone over 30–who approves of the violence.
If you want to understand what’s going on in Paris, watch the movie La Haine. If you’re boycotting all things French, listening to NWA’s Straight Outta Compton might give you a rough idea.
Mr.Ortiz
Darrell, just because something is a “cartoon” doesn’t mean it’s meant to elicit laughter. I can agree with the sentiment of those drawings and still find them extremely upsetting.
Steve S
As opposed to President Bush and Cheney who thought that 9/11 was orchestrated by the Iraqis and the French.
Their are kooks everywhere. Unfortunate our country is led by them.
Stormy70
I wonder when the French will start loading them all up on trains? Really, do immigrants in Europe pay any attention to the bloody European history. They have a way with the mass killing of people on their continent.
AL Maviva
There are only a couple things they could do to quell the riots.
1) Pay higher welfare benefits and provide better free housing – since that’s the socioeconomic situation most of the rioters are coming from, it stands to reason that giving them more money will make them happy.
2) Get out of the occupied territories – this includes the suburbs of Paris, Nice, and Marseille.
3) Accede to their demands, whatever they are. If the demands involve setting disabled women on fire, so be it. We are the white oppressors, and we are wrong.
4) Stop chasing criminals that appear to be of Arab or North African descent. That’s what sparked the intifada.
5) Stop resisting when they want to stage an intifada. We westerners don’t understand their ways.
6) Stop saying things about the way synagogues are getting burned along with kosher butcher’s shops, jewish school children are getting beaten, etc. Just don’t mention it. The zionists deserve it because of the occupation of Gaza, you know. Or the money lending. Or whatever. Just don’t mention it. Shhhhh.
7) If all that fails, leave France*. This Intifada is a quagmire and the result of right wing and Catholic religious oppression of the Eurabian peoples.
*I wouldn’t count on getting refugee status in Denmark, if my name was Pierre. It seems that this spontaneous intifada also flared up there, spontaneously, at the same time. The demand, in Denmark’s second city, is that the Danish police and national government recognize an autonomous zone, as the city belongs to Allah and the Arabs not to the Danes. Again, this understandable response of violent, armed revolt is clearly the spontaneous result of right wing oppression of Danish muslims led by the Danish government. Alternately, it’s Bush’s fault.
Stormy70
Stupid Danes! Letting their free press make fun of Muslims. Let’s riot!
Steve S
I’ll repeat it again. Things are not as bad as they appear. These people are simply excercising their right to free expression.
Think of all the schools and water treatment plants the French are building!
Mr.Ortiz
Do you know why right wingers always accuse liberals of cheering on death and destruction in Iraq? Because they know that’s what THEY would be doing in our shoes. This thread is all the proof you need of that.
The Cavalry
I hate to say this, but you reap what you sow. Having such an open borders policy for Arab immigrants is a recipe for chaos in the long run. I can’t help but think that the reason they caved in so cravenly in Iraq was for fear of this sort of thing.
demimondian
Stop it, DougJ
The Cavalry
Huh? It is widely believe that the large Arab population in France impacted Chirac’s attitude towards the war. Just so you won’t say I’m using the right-wing press, here’s a quote from the Nation.
Link
Try typing “arab population why chirac opposed war” and it and other similar articles come up.
Mike
“7) If all that fails, leave France*. This Intifada is a quagmire and the result of right wing and Catholic religious oppression of the Eurabian peoples.”
8) Stop supporting America in Iraq since that just increases the unrest of the otherwise peaceful and tolerant Muslim population.
OCSteve
I really don’t understand why this is hard to get under control. Here is a simple 3-step solution:
1. Martial Law
2. Curfew
3. Shoot to kill
goonie bird
Lets hear it for the religion of peace lets hear it for prince charlie lets give them the bronx cheer
Darrell
You’ve got right wingers on this thread suggesting that the Frenchies ‘shoot to kill’ and cut the ‘negotiations’ with the thugs. By what form of kook logic do you translate that into “proof” right wingers would cheer the deaths of our troops in Iraq?
Kimmitt
Because of their oh-so-thorough support of our military’s actions in Kosovo?
Darrell
But Kimmitt, we didn’t get UN approval for military action in Kosovo making it immoral, imperialistic, and unilateral
WaltDe
Very good reading. Peace until next time.
WaltDe