Deja vu — Judith Apter Klinghoffer
FRENCH POLICE: "RIOTERS WANT TO KILL US"/update
This is getting serious. Sarkozy is talking about charging rioters with attempted murder. I watched a France 2 interview with Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie she was livid. I do not blame her:
"It felt like they were out to kill us. We knew there were weapons in the suburbs, but never turned against us like that," one of the police officers shot during youth riots near Paris said on Wednesday.Sent to the suburb of Villiers le Bel to quell an outbreak of violence that followed the death of two teens in a crash with police, Francois, who asked not to be fully identified, found himself under siege.
"We were attacked from all sides by youths armed with hunting rifles. . . .
"The kids were shooting at us at close range, loading and reloading their weapons. I've never seen anything like it. It was like in a movie. They were picking us off from 10 or 15m away.
"I was hit in the hand with what I thought was a slingshot. I didn't realise right away that it was buckshot, until I saw the hole in my trousers. I tried to protect my younger colleagues and I fell to the ground, said Francois. . . .
A line was crossed, they say, when suburb gangs turned guns on the police, 120 of whom were injured, several by gunshots. The hunting rifles used by the gangs are dangerous anywhere within a 300m range. . . .
Francois said: "There were not enough of us to sustain that kind of a siege. I had run out of (rubber bullet) ammunition. We really got a fright. We felt they were out to kill us. We didn't know where we were any more." . . .
A report from Le Monde newspaper described boys as young as 13 taking orders from their elders to torch buildings and forming battle ranks against the police.
Do note, the police union spokesperson is Muslim too!
At least 120 officers have been injured, four of them seriously, causing interior minister Francois Villion to vow to "do everything" to curb the violence."Those who shoot at policemen, those who beat a police officer almost to death are criminals and must be treated as such," he told the French parliament.
Douhane Mohamed of the Synergie police union explained the severity of the unrest, saying: "Two things are cause for anxiety: signs the violence is spreading to neighbouring areas, which have already had their share of burned cars, and the almost systematic use of firearms against police."
And they are burning libraries frequented by neighborhood children! I watched the local people heartbroken: I used to take my granddaughter to that library. Where will I take her now?
Christopher Caldwell in Rioters vs state in a test of will provides an excellent analysis:
The rioters not only attacked symbols of the French republic; they had planned such attacks in advance. They had reportedly stockpiled petrol and used walkie-talkies for intercepting police communications. A police officer from nearby Sarcelles was beaten so badly that the local prosecutor plans to charge those involved with attempted murder. Of the 82 police injured on Tuesday night, six were being treated for serious gunshot wounds. In short, there has been a quantum escalation in both violence and strategy.Almost all the discussion since the riots has focused on police-community relations. Women from the neighbourhood told Le Monde that, in spite of the surface calm, “it’s war” with the police. Another anonymous source told L’Indépendant: “They know the cops are scared.” If so, it will be a pyrrhic victory for the local kids. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of street violence knows that “scared” is the last thing you want the police to be when they are facing a mob.
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