It's not summertime yet but Paris is heating up. Those students who wanted job guarantees a few months ago seem to have stopped rioting. But, now the fire-starters, brick and rock throwers are back "on the job." Will this be a two night dealie? Or can we expect a summer of blaze-mobiles?

Here are three reports -- One from the Washington Post, one from Al Jazeera and the other from UK Guardian.

Susan

Violence, Riots Cause Alarm in Paris Suburbs

By Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, May 31, 2006; 10:42 AM

PARIS, May 31 -- Small gangs of youths pelted riot police with rocks and set cars and garbage bins ablaze late Tuesday in a second night of unrest in the Paris suburbs, raising fears of a return of the violence that inflamed 300 French towns and suburbs last fall.

The last two nights of violence in which youths attacked police cars, government buildings and riot police, was sparked in part by mounting resentment toward the mayor of the northeastern Paris suburb of Montfermeil who in recent weeks imposed a law forbidding youths from 15 to 18 years of age from gathering in groups of more than three and requiring anyone under 16 to be accompanied by an adult on city streets after 8 p.m.

Although the French government last fall promised to improve poor living conditions and to find more job opportunities to stem the rampant unemployment in suburbs heavily populated by immigrant families, little has been done and the government's main initiative -- a jobs reform bill -- ended in the politically disastrous student demonstrations of this spring.

At the same time, police allege crime has increased in poor suburban neighborhoods and frustration with the government has continued to fester.

"We have the painful sense that nothing has been fixed," Francois Hollande, head of the opposition Socialist party said in an interview on France-2 television.

At 9:30 Tuesday night, an estimated 15 youths threw rocks and other projectiles at police patrolling an apartment complex area. At 11 p.m., youths tossed a makeshift explosive into a police car. The police officers inside barely had time to escape before the vehicle exploded in flames.

Marauding youths set about a dozen private cars on fire and torched numerous garbage bins in Montfermeil and the adjacent town of Clichy-sous-Bois where last fall's three weeks of violence began when two teenagers were electrocuted as they tried to hide in a power substation. They believed police were chasing them.

Muhittin Altun, a third youth who was badly burned in that incident, but survived, was arrested Tuesday night on charges of throwing rocks at a police car. He was later released, according to the French news media.

Six police officers were reported injured slightly and 13 youths detained in Tuesday night's incidents.

In Montfermeil, a suburban town of high youth-unemployment rates and government-subsidized housing projects, young people have been growing increasingly angry at Mayor Xavier Lemoine's attempts to crack down on gang violence. Although a local court earlier this month overturned his effort to limit youth gatherings, he vowed to seek other measures.

On Monday, local residents said police roughed up a woman who protested police efforts to arrest her son, a suspect in the beating several weeks ago of a bus driver. Police ended up arresting both the mother and son, according to police.

Hooded youths Monday night hurled stones and other projectiles at Mayor Lemoine's house and city hall and attacked the police who responded with baseball bats. The clashes lasted three hours and seven police reportedly were injured.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy -- whose undiplomatic characterizations of youths from immigrant families inflamed last fall's violence, visited police who had responded to the Monday night incidents saying: "More than 100 hooligans set upon you -- masked and carrying weapons. We are confronting not a spontaneous revolt, but hooligans who have only a single purpose, to create the most damage and injure as many people as possible."

Transportation Minister Dominique Perben of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party described the incidents as a "reminder" of last year's violence.

"The question of the suburbs is a question for the entire political class," Perben told I-Tele television. "We must have the courage to look things in the face."

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Paris suburbs flare again
Al Jazeera

Wednesday 31 May 2006 7:39 AM GMT

Rioters have clashed with police in two poor suburbs of Paris for a second night as authorities arrested a youth whose injury, along with the death of two friends, caused rioting last year.

Muhittin Altun was detained late on Tuesday in Clichy-sous-Bois, a neighbourhood northeast of Paris that was the epicentre of last year's disturbances.

Police said the 18-year-old had been throwing stones at a police car. His lawyer denied the charge.

Jean-Pierre Mignard said: "Muhittin Altun is being held on pathetic charges - throwing a rock - which he vehemently denies. We are convinced of his innocence.

"He was arrested in front of his home. We are stupefied that his arrest is taking place a day before a critical judicial proceeding." He was referring to a visit Altun was to make on Wednesday with investigating magistrates to the sub-station where he had suffered burns.

Altun was alleged to have joined in the fresh wave of rioting as it spread from nearby Montfermeil, where gangs attacked a police station, set cars on fire and threw stones at public buildings.

Police said four officers were wounded at the police station and five youths were arrested.

A day earlier, seven officers were reported injured and three youths arrested.

After the first outbreak of clashes late on Monday, when Montfermeil's town hall and mayor's home were attacked, a 250-man contingent was dispatched to quell the unrest.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister, said late on Tuesday that he would clamp down on any further violence.

"I won't let chaos be stirred up anywhere in France", he said.

The unrest last year was initially caused by the electrocution on October 27 of Bouna Traore, a 15-year-old of Malian background, and Zyed Benna, a 17-year-old of Tunisian origin. Altun escaped death but was injured. He said that they had entered an electricity sub-station because they were being chased by police. The police deny this.

Youths in the suburb, after learning of the deaths, went on a rampage that spread around most of France's big cities and towns, and prompted the government to declare a state of emergency.

The riots quickly spread to areas with high immigrant populations, fuelled by anger at racial discrimination, a lack of educational and employment prospects and police harassment.

After three weeks of unrest across the country, the final toll rose to 10,000 vehicles burnt and more than 3,200 people arrested.

The municipal authorities in Montfermeil blamed the flare-up in violence this week on the "heavy-handed" arrest of a woman from the Bosquets estate whose son was wanted in connection with a robbery.

Prosecutors confirmed that incidents broke out between youths and police after a woman and her son were taken into custody on Monday.

Regional authorities of the Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture denied that the events were linked to the riots in November, describing them as "sporadic incidents which, unfortunately, regularly accompany the work of police officers".

A Greens politician, Noel Mamere, said that after last year's riots, France had simply put "the lid on the pot" of its troubled suburbs.

'But it is still boiling and the fire can start again with the slightest spark,' he said.

Michel Wieviorka, a sociologist, said: "Nothing has been fixed and things are getting worse." He said France's model of racial integration is "totally broken down".

"We are at a point that is even worse than a dead end," he said.

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Mayor's house stoned as youths fight police in Paris riots
Guardian
Angelique Chrisafis in Montfermeil
Wednesday May 31, 2006

· Sarkozy's plans to curb youth violence backfire
· Worst trouble since last year sparked by arrest

Youths fought running battles with hundreds of police in a north Paris suburb in the early hours of yesterday, burning cars and attacking the home of the conservative mayor in the worst disturbances since last year's urban riots.

The violence erupted as the interior minister and presidential hopeful, Nicolas Sarkozy, prepared to present his proposed law on delinquency to parliament next month to try to curb criminality among France's disillusioned youth.

Mr Sarkozy wants to give more power to mayors to deal with troublesome teenagers. But yesterday morning on the rundown Bosquets estate in Montfermeil, Seine Saint Denis, where street signs had been ripped up and decaying tower blocks bore hundreds of graffiti tags saying "fuck the police", many said Mr Sarkozy's proposals had already backfired.

The violence began on Monday afternoon after the arrest of a teenager suspected of attacking a bus driver. The attack was witnessed by the local mayor, Xavier Lemoine, from Mr Sarkozy's ruling UMP party, who gave evidence to police. Mr Lemoine, started a row last month when he banned teenagers aged 15 to 18 from going out in groups of more than three, and ordered under-16s to be accompanied by an adult in public. A court overturned the ban after protests from civil liberties groups.

On Monday night, youths opposed to the mayor began burning cars on the Bosquets estate. At least 150, many hooded and with baseball bats, fought riot police for more than four hours, petrol-bombing buildings and smashing the windows of the town hall before gathering outside the mayor's house, which they pelted with bricks.

"Around 100 hooded youths stoned my home shouting 'the mayor is a son of a bitch'," Mr Lemoine, a former naval officer with seven children, told Le Monde. His home and family have been targeted recently and he was under police guard.

Seven police officers were injured and six arrests were made. The violence also spread to neighbouring estates in Clichy-sous-Bois, where last November's riots began. During those riots, more than 9,000 vehicles and dozens of public buildings and businesses in France's poor suburbs were torched. The government invoked emergency powers to quell what was the worst unrest in the country for 40 years.

Michel Thooris, secretary general of the Action Police CFTC union, said the violence was "the strongest aftershock of the earthquake of November 2005".

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Then you should find yourself enjoying the upcoming summer.  Especially if you intend to spend anytime in the steamy suburbs of Paris.

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Oh yeah, well, then come on over to Los Angeles, James and bang your drum next door to me!  We affectionately refer to the 13 year old wild child next door to us as "AJ" (as in Soprano).  He practices his drums all day and all night.  No Keith Moon, this kid, and he never gets past the same "riff" (if that's what you call a drum solo) that he mutilates over and over and over.  Sometimes practice doesn't make perfect. 

In between drum practice, we suspect he is the Mystery Car Egging Vandal who has been terrorizing the 'hood for several months.   Yes, even in quiet suburban Tarzana we have our own special breed of rioting. 

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

I love Paris in the summer (when it sizzles)

I love Paris in the fall (when it sizzles)

I love Paris every moment (when it sizzles)

Every moment of the year. (when it sizzles)

I love Paris.

Why oh why do I love Paris.

When it sizzles.

And so it is again. Autumn now but the burning of automobiles goes on without let up. Pourquoi? Pourquoi pas? And now the ante is upped with attacks on law enforcement who dare to quell the violence in so-called "no go" zones of suburban Paris.

The latest entry in the Frog in a Pot of Water Being Slowly Brought to a Boil saga.

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Although religion might be an overrated factor in this case; where are the solutions ?!

Built in sprinkler systems on cars?

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Well, with 2500 police injured so far in 2006, 10,000 cars burned last season--a solid 112 cars burned on any old night , and last year 300 buildings firebombed, the use of the term " intifada" is now being allowed to be used in news reports. I think it is what 3, 5,6 buses commandered and destroyed so far this season? The unrest was not a one time 2005 happening.

Here is a link to a not too long article to keep an update on things :

Ongoing 'intifada' in France has injured 2,500 police in 2006

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2454036.086111111.html

Man, some simple dividing and multiplying shows that everyday 14 police casualties are injured on the battlefield. At 112 cars per day that's 40,880 cars torched per year-assuming no extra flare ups. This is serious stuff folks. Reports indicate that incidents are not being reported or minimized to minor nuisance status by the authorities. I am guessing the reasons for this are political and to avoid any reduction in the tourism industry.

Reports are that the intifada have even better communications now, guidance and direction from al Queda types, and the sighting of pistols and heavier weapons commonly observed. Are the quaint days of rocks and firebombs disappearing?

That last quip is not funny. I wish only the best for the French in this insurrection. I hope things cool out and we don't see a repeat or worse of last year.

The French wouldn't have this trouble if they just tried negotiating peacefully with these rioters.

Just sit down and talk.  Give them a warning, a last chance, another last chance...and repeat that ad infinitum.

Yeah - I'm sure that'll work!

As you know that is what has been done CybacaT.  There is one candidate who wants a more severe reaction to this insurrection. Sharkovy. The election is coming up and Villipin, Charaq represent the give them money and understanding approach. We shall see. If the use of pistols and heavier arms emerge the population will have no choice but to take this seriously. Currently there are large Muslim autonomous areas where the authorities are afraid to and will not enter. Parts of France have already fallen.

Great the way France staying out of Iraq has worked out .

There is a fantasy that there is a distinction between "over there" and "over here." In a world-scale confrontation with jihadism, this distinction is idle and false.