RTTue, 05 Mar 2019 20:55 UTC
© AFP / Jean-Pierre ClatotGraffiti reading "Police killer!" written on a pharmacy in Grenoble.
A third consecutive night of rioting broke out in the French city of Grenoble on Monday after two teenagers were killed while they were being chased by police.
The two young men, aged 17 and 19, were not wearing helmets when they were crushed between a coach and a wall on a bridge as they fled the police on a stolen scooter on Saturday evening.Rioting youths in the Mistral district of the city - where the victims lived - were filmed hurling fireworks and petrol bombs at police on Monday night, while as many as 65 vehicles were also reportedly torched.Video footage from the scene shows police attempting to thwart the riot from behind the barricade that the youths had erected by launching canisters of tear gas. Hundreds of fireworks rang out among the skyrise apartment buildings in the city, and balls of flames appeared to land at random.
Four firefighters and several policemen were reportedly injured in the chaotic clashes, while a 25-year-old man was arrested for throwing projectiles at police.
Comment: It's like three different countries exist within what used to known as France: there's rich/genteel suburbia in Paris and other major cities; there's the poor/middle class 'peripheral' France where most people live; then there are the 'no-go' ghettos where everyone lives on govt handouts and the proceeds of crime, the police rarely intervene, and when they do, the punks riot.
Note that, throughout 5 months of Yellow Vest demonstrations, which has included running battles with armed police and thus ample opportunity for the migrant-majority zones to express their dissatisfaction with the government, all was quiet in Les Banlieues.
They react now, understandably, because of a tragedy directly affecting them, but they are apparently otherwise satisfied with their lot.
Comment: It's like three different countries exist within what used to known as France: there's rich/genteel suburbia in Paris and other major cities; there's the poor/middle class 'peripheral' France where most people live; then there are the 'no-go' ghettos where everyone lives on govt handouts and the proceeds of crime, the police rarely intervene, and when they do, the punks riot.
Note that, throughout 5 months of Yellow Vest demonstrations, which has included running battles with armed police and thus ample opportunity for the migrant-majority zones to express their dissatisfaction with the government, all was quiet in Les Banlieues.
They react now, understandably, because of a tragedy directly affecting them, but they are apparently otherwise satisfied with their lot.