Youths riot in Paris suburbs after two teens die (Roundup)

Nov 26, 2007, 11:45 GMT

Paris - At least 25 police officers and one firefighter were injured when gangs of youths rioted in several Paris suburbs after two teenagers were killed when their motorcycle was struck by a police car, police sources said Monday.

Dozens of youths attacked police stations, ransacked stores, smashed windows and set cars ablaze late Sunday in a disturbing echo of the three weeks of urban unrest that swept through poor suburbs throughout France in November 2005 after two teenagers from another Paris suburb were electrocuted while hiding from police.

Some 30 cars and four buildings were set ablaze by roving bands of youths, police said. Eight people were arrested, including an individual charged with looting a jewelry store.

The riots erupted Sunday evening after two youths of African origin, aged 15 and 16, died when the off-road motorcycle on which they were riding collided with a police car in the suburb of Villiers-le-Bel, north of Paris.

Police said the teens were not wearing helmets, were travelling at high speed, and that the crash occurred after they failed to yield the right of way to the police cruiser.

However, the public prosecutor of Pontoise has charged the Inspector General of the National Police with investigating the police officers involved in the crash on possible charges of homicide and non-assistance to persons in danger.

After the accident, bands of youths set trash cans and cars on fire. The police station in Villiers-le-Bel was attacked with Molotov cocktails and set ablaze, and a police station in neighbouring Arnouville was badly damaged.

'They burned the police station, all the cars around it as well,' a resident of Villiers-le-Bel told the daily Le Parisien. 'They broke all the windows of the nearby stores and the train station. The whole neighbourhood was vandalized.'

Two police officers suffered shotgun wounds, while the police chief of Sarcelles, who attempted to calm the rioters, was badly beaten and had to be hospitalized with head and upper body injuries, the administration of the departement, or region, of Val-d'Oise said.

An estimated 50 to 100 youths were said to have taken part in the violence, according to police.