Riots spread in France
Some 120 police officers have been injured in three days of rioting.
Wednesday, 28, Nov 2007 10:05
France has been hit by a third night of violence, with rioting now spreading from the Parisian suburbs to Toulouse in the south.
Ten cars and a library were set alight in the southern city last night, police said, as France's youth continues to react furiously to the death of two teenagers from ethnic minorities after a motorcycle crash with a police car on Sunday.
The incident occurred in Villiers-le-Bel, a suburb to the north of Paris, with relatives of the two youths and local residents alleging the police had caused the accident.
While an initial investigation found the teenagers - neither of whom were wearing crash helmets - had careered into the police vehicle, the incident sparked simmering unrest among ethnic minorities in France's poorest districts, with police claiming to have experienced violence more intense than that seen in the 2005 riots.
Some 1,000 officers were deployed last night to cope with the escalating violence, after a senior police union official warned that "urban guerrillas" were involved, with the youths appearing to lash out at police.
At least 120 officers have been injured, four of them seriously, causing interior minister Francois Villion to vow to "do everything" to curb the violence.
"Those who shoot at policemen, those who beat a police officer almost to death are criminals and must be treated as such," he told the French parliament.
Douhane Mohamed of the Synergie police union explained the severity of the unrest, saying: "Two things are cause for anxiety: signs the violence is spreading to neighbouring areas, which have already had their share of burned cars, and the almost systematic use of firearms against police."
French prime minister Nicolas Sarkozy has returned from a state visit to China and is to hold crisis talks as the violence continues.