Rioting in Paris and its suburbs continued for the 8th straight night, albeit on a smaller scale than on previous nights. (Update @ 11:01am — Given new information, added below, I think my assessment that things are on a smaller scale may have been premature)
LE BLANC MESNIL, France — A wave of arson attacks in Paris’ restive suburbs punctured what authorities said Friday was otherwise a first relative night of calm after a week of clashes between angry youths and riot police.
Officials said at least 400 cars were torched in the Paris metropolitan region, an increase from previous nights, but there were fewer direct clashes with police who were deployed in force across the volatile suburbs north of Paris.
More than 100 firefighters battled towering flames engulfing a carpet warehouse in Aulnay-sous-Bois early Friday.
Hours earlier, in nearby Le Blanc Mesnil, another warehouse was set afire. Youths fired buckshot at riot police vehicles in Neuilly-sur-Marne, further east, and a group of 30 to 40 harassed police near a synagogue in Stains where a city bus was torched and a school classroom partially burned, said the top official of Seine-Saint-Denis, Prefect Jean-Francois Cordet.
A bus depot was set afire to the west of Paris in the town of Trappes, incinerating 27 buses, authorities said.
Meanwhile there are other reports that indicate that this Ramadan rioting may not be limited to France. Viking Observer writes of reported rioting in Denmark: (emphasis in original)
Rosenh?j Mall has several nights in a row been the scene of the worst riots in ?rhus for years. “This area belongs to us”, the youths proclaim. Sunday evening saw a new arson attack.
Their words sound like a clear declaration of war on the Danish society. Police must stay out. The area belongs to immigrants.
Four youths sit on the wall in Rosenh?j Mall sunday afternoon, calling themselves spokesmen for the groups, that three nights in a row have ravaged and tried to burn down the restaurant and other stores.
Around the parking lot, cars with youngsters from the immigrant community are swarming, and many are walking around, greeting each others with a sense of victory after the worst riots in ?rhus in years.
And similar riots may be taking place in England
The American media is ignoring it all and, as James Joyner points out, the coverage we are seeing can’t seem to bring itself to point out that the “youths” who are rioting are predominantly, if not exclusively, Muslim. Even in the Post 9/11 world, political correctness abounds.
Update @ 11:01am: The Belmot Club wonders just where all of this is headed
The Reuters story suggests they may now be spreading to other cities. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is hinting darkly of conspiracies. Should one conclude even more serious developments are in the offing? I don’t know. I think that neither Sarkozy nor the conspirators he refers to understand the exact potential of this thing, which is behaving like a chaotic system whose trajectory is difficult to predict except in the very short term.
More updates, all of them pretty sobering being collected by Glenn Reynolds here.
And Michelle Malkin is gathering news on the riots.
Update @ 1:30pm: Via Michelle Malkin and Outside the Beltway comes this indication that things really are getting worse:
A handicapped woman was doused with petrol and set on fire by youths during another night of rioting in Paris.
The 56-year-old suffered third degree burns to 20% of her body in the attack.
Witnesses said a youth poured petrol over the woman and then threw a Molotov cocktail on to the bus she was travelling on in the suburb of Sevran.
Linked with Don Surber and Cao’s Blog and The Political Teen and Publius Rendezvous and Adam’s Blog
Previous Posts:
Parisian Jihad
Barbarians At The Gate
