Sunday, November 06, 2005

Paris timeline.

With thanks to Kim over at Tim Blair's:

Urban violence continued for the 10th night straight


As France’s urban violence flared again for its 10th night straight, police become more robust in arresting trouble-makers, signalling the government’s resolve in ending the rampages.

Here is a timeline of the unrest:


Wednesday, October 19:

- Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy declares a “war without mercy” on violence in the suburbs.


Tuesday, October 25:


- During a visit to the Paris suburb of Argenteuil, Sarkozy is pelted with stones and bottles. He describes rebellious youths in such districts as “rabble”.


Thursday, October 27:

- Two boys in the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, Bouna Traore, a 15-year-old of Malian background, and Zyed Benna, a 17-year-old of Tunisian origin, flee a police identity check. They scale the wall of an electrical relay station and are electrocuted as they try to hide near a transformer.

- Youths in the suburb, hearing of the deaths, go on a rampage, burning 23 vehicles and vandalising buildings and hurling stones and bottles at riot police.


Friday, October 28:

- Four hundred youths clash with police in Clichy-sous-Bois, throwing stones, bottles and Molotov cocktails. Twenty-three officers are hurt and their colleagues are forced to fire rubber bullets to push back mobs. Thirteen people are arrested and 29 vehicles are burned.


Saturday, October 29:

- Five hundred people hold a silent march through Clichy-sous-Bois in memory of the dead teenagers.

- Violence resumes at night. Twenty vehicles are burned. Nine people are detained, some of them for carrying hammers or petrol cans.


Sunday, October 30:

- Clashes occur on the outskirts of Clichy-sous-Bois. Six police officers are hurt, 11 people are arrested and eight vehicles are torched. A police teargas grenade hits a mosque, prompting anger among the suburb’s large Muslim community.


Monday, October 31:

- Running clashes between youths and police take place in Clichy-sous-Bois and in surrounding suburbs. Nineteen people are arrested and 68 vehicles are torched.


Tuesday, November 1:

- Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin meets the families of the dead teenagers.

- Riots and clashes erupt in several suburbs to the north and west of Paris. Altogether, 180 vehicles are torched and 34 people arrested.


Wednesday, November 2:

- President Jacques Chirac tells ministers “tempers must calm down.”

- Villepin and Sarkozy cancel overseas trips to deal with the spreading violence.

- Trouble erupts in 22 suburban towns north, south, east and west of Paris. A handicapped woman suffers severe burns when youths set a bus on fire. Police say 315 vehicles are torched and at least 15 people arrested.


Thursday, November 3:

- A criminal investigation is opened into the deaths of the two teenagers.

- Sarkozy says more than 140 people have been arrested since the violence began.

- The riots resume at night, but for the first time spread to other areas around France, in Dijon, Marseille and in Normandy. Seven cars are also set alight in central Paris. In all, 517 vehicles are torched in and around the capital and another 78 people are arrested.


Friday, November 4:

- Arson hit-and-run attacks take place in suburbs around Paris and other French cities. A total of 897 vehicles are torched and more than 250 people arrested.

Saturday, November 5:

- Paris Prosecutor General Yves Bot says “we can see organised actions, a strategy” in the violence.

- The rampages again take place in suburbs outside Paris and other cities. At least 70 people are arrested and over 600 vehicles burned. Police use seven helicopters with lights and cameras to chase fast-moving youths who set fire to property then flee.

4 Comments:

At 9:01 AM, Blogger Dag said...

I keep thinking, just wait till the rabble have had the winter to mull over their deeds, to expand on their exploits, to mythologize and aggrandize themselves; and when the springtime comes, when the weather warms, then, when they're out on the streets with nothing better to do than swap lies with their mates they'll build each other up and do it moreso than November. But they don't stop even now. It makes me think that the pressure will build over the winter, building on what there is now, and that the pressure now must be high if it keeps these feral bastards out of doors when the weather is so nasty.

"Emboldened," that's the word I read of Somali pirates, and it works for the Muslims in Paris and beyond.

The question I ask, and that Shiva asks, is what can be done? We answer that the best solution is to make the conditions so unbearable that the average European cannot but react in strength to make the situation better: counter-attack.

But let's consider the Battle of Verdun: "Verdun was not the bloodiest battle of the war-- that grisly distinction belongs to the Somme... [but] [p]robably more soldiers were killed per square yard in defence of Verdun, symbol of French honour, than in any other conflict before or since."* France was not only gutted in WWI, it was castrated. And then, after years of industrial slaughter of men on the field, came the depression and WWII. Add 50 years of socialism and the demoralization of the populace through welfare dependency and neo-feudalism. What a mess to have, let alone mixing in millions of savage Muslims.

But that's the reality, and there's little hope of the French rescuing themselves from it. They lost too many men. In spite of what our cultures might try to tell us, men have a place, even if it is only as place holders, as zeroes in the equation of the nation. France has lost even men of that calibre. France lost them to combat and slaughter, and there's no good in complaining. It's not a conscious decision on the part of the French to appease and to whinge. The French simply do not have the physical testosterone to maintain their land.

So, what do we do? Where do we find the Madam LeFarges who will come into the streets to man the barricades in this time of need?

I have my devious ideas, and so does Shiva, and so do others; but what do the French have? We'll find out in the springtime, I reckon.

*Piers Brendon, The Dark Valley. New York: Vintage Books; 2000. pp 4-5.

 
At 10:47 PM, Blogger Jai Normosone said...

So, thanks to war & socialism, France had it's nuts cut off and now it's a whinging, whining, left-wing, bleeding-heart liberal who, when in a bind, tries to help resolve the situation by saying "can't we talk about this like civilised human beings?" and "why can't we all just get along?" - but when there are no problems around, are content to think: "There is no danger looming! There are no problems! These lowbrow types know their place and would never dare rise up before such a proud and staunch race like the French!"

Grow some balls, France!

 
At 9:43 PM, Blogger Nilk said...

Well, they rolled over. As they're saying over at LGF and JihadWatch, adieu, ma cherie.

I find it very scary, and the future is not looking so bright any more.

 
At 7:15 PM, Blogger Jai Normosone said...

The future of Europe is not so much in doubt in your mind until you see it first hand and hear about it from the locals.

It really saddens me to think of this happening because the history of that part of the world is breathtaking. While in Hannover, I just had to go over and put my hands on the wall of a church that was built 400 years before any recorded history here in Oz (No! Comics on cave walls don't count as 'history'!)

 

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