CLICHY-SOUS-BOIS (France), Oct 31: Police clashed with angry youths in a Paris suburb for the fourth straight night, police said on Monday, with accusations that teargas was thrown into a mosque set to exacerbate the situation further
Six police officers were slightly injured after being hit by projectiles.
Eleven people were arrested after the violence in which eight cars and 16 rubbish bins were torched, departmental security spokesman Jean-Luc Sidot said.
There were no reports of any civilian casualties as the northeastern Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois descended into violence once again.
The unrest was originally triggered when two teenagers, aged 15 and 17, died by electrocution on Thursday after they scaled the wall of an electrical relay station and touched a transformer.
A canister producing irritating smoke was hurled inside the mosque by an unknown source, according to the police and the local mayor’s office.
Muslims inside the building accused police of throwing teargas into a place of worship.
Sidot said that was “probably not” the case but added an inquiry would be launched.
The local member of parliament, Eric Raoult, told RTL radio that it was not clear that the canister contained teargas and that it may have been a grenade with a pepper-based product.
He added that officers were finding the situation difficult and that there were “outlaws who want to keep areas outside the control of police.”—AFP
