The guns came out overnight in Paris:
A crowd of youths set police barricades on fire and threw stones and Molotov cocktails at officers, who retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets. In Villiers-le-Bel and surrounding areas, youths set fire to 36 vehicles, the area’s prefecture said.
Youths were seen firing buckshot at police and reporters. A police union official said 38 officers were wounded, including three seriously — one of whom had a shoulder wound after a shot from a hunting rifle pierced his bullet-proof vest. One reporter also was injured.
Talk in the blogosphere mainly centers around the media’s fear of the “M word”. James Joyner:
Interestingly, those without background knowledge of the 2005 riots would have no idea from reading these stories that the “youths” killed, those perpetrating the riots, and the suburbs in question were predominantly Muslim and that ethnic unrest was the tinder sparked by the incidents.
Pam at Right Voices mocks the mainstream media with a headline:
Youths of undertermined ethnic extraction burn Paris for a second night.
While The Transatlantic Conservative hears nothing but Newspeak from the media:
Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the novel, it is described as being “the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year.” Orwell included an essay about it in the form of an Appendix[1] in which the basic principles of the language are explained. Newspeak is closely based on English but has a greatly reduced and simplified vocabulary and grammar. This suited the totalitarian regime of the Party [of political correctness - ed.], whose aim was to make any alternative thinking (”thoughtcrime”) or speech impossible by removing any words or possible constructs which describe the ideas of freedom, rebellion and so on. One character says admiringly of the shrinking volume of the new dictionary: “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
Wolf Howling takes a look at the violent ‘burbs:
The riots are just the most visible symptom of a violent subculture in the suburbs, much of it associated with Wahhabi / Salafi Islam. Other notable examples of this violent subculture are here and here.
Snaphanen has more on the touchy neighborhoods:
The euphemism for these enclaves — “quartier sensible”—bears a nugget of truth if correctly translated as “touchy neighborhoods.” Villiers le Bel is in the administrative district of Sarcelles / Garges-les-Gonesses about 20 km north of Paris. Not so long ago Sarcelles was the home sweet home of Jewish refugees from North Africa; today it is their nightmare. They endure constant attacks and harassment from the permanently enraged African-Arab-Muslim residents who live cheek by jowl with their still neat clean streets.
Not surprising is it? Jews suffer, the police suffer, and perhaps most horrifically Ronald McDonald suffers:
Not to make too much light of of a serious issue, but why do the rioters in Paris always target McDonald’s? Yeah I know it is a symbol of evil American imperialism. But so is KFC, so is Burger King and Starbucks, of which there are plenty in Paris. Yet time and time again only McDonald’s is attacked by the mobs. Wonder why that is.
I think Ed answered his own question - unless it turns out that Muslim youths are really just enraged over the presence of trans fats in their fries. Whatever the reason, Girl on the Right is looking forward to a Sarkozy crackdown:
It was hoped by many - myself included - that once Sarkozy was elected he would put a stop to this nonsense. He obviously has little patience for the “scum”, which is how he was elected in the first place. I do hope that on his return from Beijing he actually puts his foot down and squashes this ridiculous intifada. Now they’ve started attacking the cops - it’s time to end this.
Sarkozy is out of town (China) but he did issue a statement:
President Sarkozy, who as Interior Minister two years ago was criticised for appearing to provoke weeks of copycat violence, interrupted a state visit to China to appeal for calm. “Let everyone cool down and let justice determine who is responsible,” he said.
If the violence spreads, and he has to return early, he’ll probably be a bit more animated. We’ll know more in a few hours.
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Sarkozy Calls Security Meeting to Address Riots
Send Him a Coward’s Feather
Filed Under:
Islam, Crime, Europe
