PARIS, Nov 7: Riots in France’s poor city suburbs appeared to be spiralling out of control on Monday after the worst night of violence so far and the first death, deepening the severest unrest to engulf the nation since the 1968 student uprisings.
The escalation prompted the mayor of a suburb in Paris to declare curfew in his municipality, which is one of the areas most affected by the rioting.
The curfew in Raincy, decided by mayor Eric Raoult, was the first to be implemented since rioting broke out in the neighbouring suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois on Oct 27.
As the unrest spread to the provinces, police said several officials were hurt, some by shots, and 1,400 vehicles were torched across the country on Sunday night.
“The shockwave has spread from Paris to the provinces,” said Michel Gaudin, director-general of the national police, at a press conference in the capital.
A 61-year-old man beaten into a coma by a hooded youth in the northern suburb of Stains died in hospital, according to his widow, who called for the aggressor to be ‘punished’.
It was the first death recorded since the troubles began.
Youths predominantly from France’s large Muslim minority have rampaged through out-of-town neighbourhoods for 11 straight nights, setting fire to vehicles, businesses and public buildings and attacking police with stones and other missiles.
Police figures showed 1,408 vehicles were destroyed on Sunday — up on the previous record of 1,300 on Saturday — and 395 people arrested. Most of the cars — nearly 1,000 — were in towns and cities outside Paris, reflecting the way the violence has spread from its original flashpoint. In addition 36 policemen were injured on Sunday night.
BERLIN: Five cars were set alight in a working-class area of Berlin overnight on Sunday, with police saying it was a possible attempt to copy the violence currently sweeping French cities.—AFP
