French youths fight police and attack mayor's house
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Two incidents in the past few days have raised fears of a renewed spiral of urban violence and racial tension in the greater Paris area.
In the first incident, 100youths fought police in the early hours of yesterday morning in the suburbs north-east of Paris after they stoned the home of a local mayor.
In Montfermeil, a racially mixed group of youths from a nearby housing estate stoned the home of Xavier Lemoine, apparently in protest against a decree banning groups of youths from the streets of his town. Police said later that there had been scenes of violence. Seven of the 250 policemen called to the scene were injured. Three people were arrested.
The riots took place close to a deprived housing estate called Les Bousquets, which was the origin of suburban riots last November that eventually spread across the country.
In the second incident, a gang of black militants invaded the old Jewish quarter in the centre of Paris last weekend, looking for confrontation with Jewish youths and hurling racial insults at passers-by. The 30 members of Tribu KA, a radical group which follows the teachings of black American Louis Farrakhan, insulted Jewish passers-by and unsuccessfully sought out members of two radical Jewish youth groups. There was no violence but many Jewish residents and shopkeepers in the Rue des Rosiers area said they had felt intimidated. The gang warned it would returnevery Sunday.
There were expressions of outrage from anti-racist groups and all political parties, and the Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, called for a ban on an internet site run by Tribu KAon the ground that it was stirring up anti-Semitic hatred.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments