Dozens injured as youths again riot in Paris suburbs (1st Lead)

Nov 26, 2007, 22:33 GMT

Paris - At least 50 police officers were injured, three seriously, when bands of youths rioted late Monday for a second night in the suburbs of Paris after two minority teens were killed when their motorcycle was struck by a police car, LCI television reported.

An estimated 100 hooded youths tossed paving stones and Molotov cocktails at riot police near the site of the collision in the suburb of Villiers-le-Bel, north of Paris. Some sources said that pistols were used to fire lead shot at police.

Police replied with tear gas and flash-ball projectiles. In some locations, the youths and police officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat, with the rioters using trash can lids as shields against nightsticks, France Info radio said.

In addition, dozens of cars and numerous trash cans were set ablaze and a number of buildings including a school were damaged in the violence, which has spread to at least six suburbs around Paris.

The violence broke out again, though the families of the victims and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, currently on a visit to China, called for calm.

The unrest began late Sunday after two youths of African origin, aged 15 and 16, died when their off-road motorcycle collided with a police cruiser.

Witnesses told investigators that the motorcycle was traveling very fast and that the police car was unable to avoid the collision.

Some 40 police officers and firefighters were injured in Sunday's unrest. At least six buildings including two police stations as well as several dozen cars were torched.

The violence was 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.

Residents of Villiers-le-Bel told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that they feared a new wave of violence by minority youths.

'We heard that they want to burn down City Hall,' one person said. 'We are afraid for our cars.'

Another man said that the area where the two youths were killed Sunday was populated primarily by immigrants. 'We're not in France here any more,' he said.