PARIS, Nov. 27, 2007 - There was a fragile calm in Villiers-le-Bel, a suburb north of Paris at the heart of a recent spate of violence, as police braced for a third night of clashes with local youths.
The latest violence was sparked by the deaths of two teenagers, whose scooter collided with a police car in Villiers-le-Bel on Sunday.
Reporting from Villiers-le-Bel, FRANCE 24's Gallagher Fenwick said the situation was calm but tense. “Villiers-le-Bel is very calm," he said. "The suburb is surrounded by security forces, streets are deserted, all public buildings are lit-up as promised by the mayor.”
On Tuesday, Mayor of Villiers-le-Bel, Didier Vaillant, had appealed for calm. His appeal was echoed by the families of the victims, local associations, as well as community leaders.
Addressing parliament on Tuesday, French Prime Minister François Fillon vowed to take action after a second night of violence rocked Villiers-le-Bel.
"We're going to do everything so that this evening there is a maximum security presence in Villiers-le-Bel and the neighbouring areas, because the residents should not have to relive another night of violence," he said.
Tensions in Toulouse
But on Tuesday night there were signs of tensions spreading to other French cities. Youths in the southern city of Toulouse torched about 20 cars, according to police officials. A library was also set afire although the blaze was quickly contained, according to local officials.
The French government has vowed to take a firm line against any violence. "Those who fire on the police and who beat a police officer nearly to death are criminals and must be treated like criminals," said Fillon.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to meet Fillon and his interior and justice ministers to discuss the crisis on his return from China on Wednesday, his spokesman said in a statement. He will first visit injured police officers in hospital.
Déjà vu
Two years after clashes between police and angry youths rocked the northern Parisian suburb of Clichy-Sous-Bois, residents were rattled by Monday night’s violence. "The riots that shook the suburbs in 2005 might repeat themselves," a worried resident of Villiers-le-Bel told FRANCE 24's Sophie Claudet.
To read an analysis of the 2005 French riots, click here.
Reporting from the troubled Parisian suburb, Claudet said youths in these neighborhoods felt abandoned by the government.
“The youth in the suburbs feel completely marginalized. The government has abandoned these areas,” said Claudet.
The level of distrust between residents of the economically deprived suburbs and the police has been rising in recent years, and many Villiers-le-Bel residents believe the police do not bear responsiblity for their actions in their neighbourhoods, according to Claudet.
The latest clashes broke out after two youths, Moushin, 15, and Larami, 16, were killed in a collision with a police car Sunday afternoon.
According to the police, the teenagers were riding a motorcycle at top speed and the bike was not registered for street use.
But friends and relatives of the boys have refuted the reports and they angrily deny suggestions that the two boys were irresponsible.
“Mouhsin and his friend were well integrated; they weren’t young thugs,” Mouhsin’s neighbour told FRANCE 24.
Amid conflicting reports about Sunday’s incident, state prosecutor Marie-Therese Givry on Monday ordered an internal police investigation for "involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist persons in danger." Speaking to reporters, she later said witnesses had confirmed the police officers' version that the bike smashed into the side of their car during a routine patrol.
“We want to know the truth; everything about the deaths of these teens should be open, clear and transparent,” said Zohra Bitan, president of ma6tvachanger, a group that helps young people express themselves on the internet, whose name translates roughly as 'my housing project will change.'
Clashes spread to neighbouring suburbs
Police say over 70 officers were injured, five critically, in new clashes that broke out on Monday night between young rioters and police forces in Villiers-le-Bel as well as Sarcelles and Garges-les-Gonesses, two other towns in the Val d’Oise department. Villiers-le-Bel is in the Val d’Oise department.
The Villiers-le-Bel incident has evoked memories of the riots that spread across France in 2005 after two teens were electrocuted in a power substation while fleeing from police.
According to a local security official, one policeman was wounded in the shoulder Monday night by “a high-calibre bullet” but “no vital organs were damaged”.
Several hundred policemen were deployed in the field to prevent new riots. “Throughout the night, police forces played cat and mouse with the young men who were out in the streets,” said FRANCE 24 correspondent Karim Hakiki.
In all, five buildings - the Bellevue library, two schools, a supermarket and a public accounts office - were burned down, and 63 vehicles were set on fire.
Early Tuesday, a helicopter hovered over Villiers-le-Bel, 20 km north of the French capital, “to locate people stirring up trouble,” a police officer said.
