A spark can set fire again in France's suburbs, in one month, two months.

Azouz Begag,
Ministre délégué à la Promotion de l’égalité des chances,
warning not to link crime and immigration in presidential politics
PARIS September 26, 2006 (IHT/Reuters)

It gets ugly early.

LOCAL FURY AFTER POLICE RAID ON TROUBLED ESTATE

LES MUREAUX, France, Oct 4, 2006 (AFP) - Local people reacted with fury Wednesday after French police raided a poor housing project in the western Paris outskirts in search of youths who attacked a police car on Sunday.

The dawn raid on the "Cite des Musiciens" estate in Les Mureaux -- a high-immigration area which was a hot-spot in last November's riots -- led to just one arrest.

It followed clashes with scores of youths on Sunday evening in which seven police were hurt after they tried to arrest a man for a traffic offence. A police car was burned out, and a stun-gun and radios were stolen.

Families complained that police used excessive force to break into apartments. In some, furniture had been overturned and shelves swept clear.

Wednesday's raid follows a similar high-profile operation a week ago in the southern suburb of Corbeil-Essonnes to make arrests after police officers were attacked several days previously.

OPEN SEASON
More Deadly Than Last Year

VIOLENCES : QUATORZE POLICIERS BLESSÉS PAR JOUR
[VIOLENCE: FOURTEEN POLICE WOUNDED DAILY]

04 octobre 2006 (Figaro) - Selon le dernier bilan du ministère de l'Intérieur, pas moins de 2 458 policiers ont été blessés (avec en moyenne une interruption de travail de deux ou trois jours) en mission lors du premier semestre de l'année. Soit près de quatorze agressions quotidiennes.

Dans la majorité des cas, les incidents ont pour théâtre les 751 zones urbaines sensibles du pays. Éclatant plus volontiers à la nuit tombée, les attaques impliquent souvent des policiers patrouillant en faible nombre, visés par des traquenards tendus au pied d'immeubles ou dans des impasses.

... Rappelant que les violences envers les policiers ont augmenté de plus de 103% en dix ans, Nicolas Comte, secrétaire général du Syndicat général de la police, compare la situation à un «jeu» où «caillasser, brûler un véhicule de police vaudrait 50 points, blesser un policier, 100 points, etc.».

De son côté, le secrétaire national du syndicat Alliance, Frédéric Lagache, s'insurge contre la relative impunité dont jouissent les «casseurs de flics» : «Dans nombre de dossiers de violence à agents, les agresseurs sont remis en liberté. Les collègues sont désabusés et le cocktail devient très explosif. Si un policier était tué, le pire serait à craindre : les nerfs de certains de nos collègues pourraient lâcher.»

[According to the latest assessment from the Interior ministry, no fewer than 2,458 police officers were wounded (with an average work interruption of two or three days) on assignment during the first half of the year, nearly fourteen daily attacks.

In the majority of the cases, the incidents occur in the 751 sensitive urban zones of the country. Usually erupting at night fall, the attacks often involve police officers patrolling in weak numbers, drawn by traps to the foot of buildings or in dead ends.

Recalling that violence toward police officers increased by more than 103% in ten years, Nicolas Count, secretary-general of the police trade union, compares the situation with a "game" where "to stone, to burn a police vehicle would be worth 50 points, to wound a police officer, 100 points, etc.".

For his part, the national secretary of the trade union Alliance, Frederic Lagache, protests the relative impunity that the "cop beaters" enjoy: "In a number of files of attacks on agents, the attackers are let loose. Colleagues are bitter and the cocktail becomes very explosive. If a police officer were killed, the worst fear is the nerves of some of our colleagues might snap."]

PFFT (What is this?): Battleground France 3 | Rayonnement français 0

Pretty insignificant compared to your Weekly Shooting Death, Part III, in which more people - innocent children - are left dead in a single week than a month worth of riots in France...
But Hypocrisy never seem to be much of a concern to our dear friend Damian.

M. Zmx blows off the police unions, the French cops on the beat, and the two thousand plus officers at mid-year who have sustained injuries in the line of duty. It's all pretty insignificant.

Circulez, rien à voir ici. Tout va très bien.

With no America M. Zmx might notice the mess that is France.

Ah, M. Zmx, an inveterate liar and a self-admitted donkey, accuses us of hypocrisy. To what does he refer? He posts a dead link to support his empty claim.

Liar, donkey, incompetent -- is there no end to his repetoire?

DGB