86 Police Officers Hurt in Paris Riots
By KATRIN BENNHOLD
New York Times
VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France, Nov. 27 — The number of police officers injured during clashes by French youths in a suburb north of Paris rose to 86 after a second bout of violence overnight in which 60 officers were hurt, including six who are in serious condition, police officials said.
Of the six in serious condition, four were hurt as a result of gunfire, said Francis Debuire, a representative of the General Union of Police Officers in the district where the fighting took place. One of the four lost an eye and another officer’s shoulder was shattered by a bullet after some of the youths used shotguns as well as firebombs and rocks.
Police union officials expressed concern that the violence was more severe than the fighting that had occurred in the Paris suburbs over three weeks of rioting in 2005. “The violence over the last days has been worse than two years ago in terms of its intensity,” Mr. Debuire said.
The clashes began when two teenagers traveling on a motorbike died in a collision with a police car Sunday afternoon in the town of Villiers-le-Bel, about 12 miles north of Paris, in the Val d’Oise department.
Police were bracing for a third round of violence tonight. As the sun went down today in the town, a working- and lower-class suburb, an estimated 200 people marched silently through the main street past shops, bars and a housing project.
There were people of all ages, including some carrying babies. There was also a large contingent of youths, ranging in age from 10 years old to their early 20s. Some of these were carrying images of the two slain youths, and many of them blamed the police for their deaths. They vowed to continue their violent protest.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France, Nov. 27 — The number of police officers injured during clashes by French youths in a suburb north of Paris rose to 86 after a second bout of violence overnight in which 60 officers were hurt, including six who are in serious condition, police officials said.
Of the six in serious condition, four were hurt as a result of gunfire, said Francis Debuire, a representative of the General Union of Police Officers in the district where the fighting took place. One of the four lost an eye and another officer’s shoulder was shattered by a bullet after some of the youths used shotguns as well as firebombs and rocks.
Police union officials expressed concern that the violence was more severe than the fighting that had occurred in the Paris suburbs over three weeks of rioting in 2005. “The violence over the last days has been worse than two years ago in terms of its intensity,” Mr. Debuire said.
The clashes began when two teenagers traveling on a motorbike died in a collision with a police car Sunday afternoon in the town of Villiers-le-Bel, about 12 miles north of Paris, in the Val d’Oise department.
Police were bracing for a third round of violence tonight. As the sun went down today in the town, a working- and lower-class suburb, an estimated 200 people marched silently through the main street past shops, bars and a housing project.
There were people of all ages, including some carrying babies. There was also a large contingent of youths, ranging in age from 10 years old to their early 20s. Some of these were carrying images of the two slain youths, and many of them blamed the police for their deaths. They vowed to continue their violent protest.
(Continued here.)
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