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French Police: “This is a real guerrilla war”
From The International Herald Tribune:
Two years after an orgy of violence in which rioters in more than 300 suburbs and towns torched cars, trashed businesses and ambushed the riot police and firefighters, Villiers-le-Bel and several nearby suburbs of Paris similarly have erupted in violence and destruction.
In one sense, the unrest seems to be more menacing than during the early days of the three weeks of rioting in 2005. Then, the youth seemed disorganized, their destruction largely caused by rock-throwing and arson and aimed at the closest and easiest targets, like cars. This time, hunting shotguns, as well as gasoline bombs and rocks, have been turned on the police.
“From what our colleagues on the scene tell us, this is a situation that is a lot worse than what we saw in 2005,” Patrice Ribeiro, a police officer and senior union official, told RTL radio Tuesday. He added, “A line was crossed last night, that is to say, they used weapons, they used weapons and fired on the police. This is a real guerrilla war.”
Ribeiro warned that the police, who have struggled to avoid excessive force, would not be fired upon indefinitely without responding.
More than 80 police officers already have been wounded the clashes, several of them seriously, Ribeiro said later by telephone. Thirty of them were hit with pellets from shotguns, and one of the wounded was hit with a type of bullet used to kill large game, he added. It is legal to own a shotgun in France – as long as the owner has a license – and police circles were swirling with rumors that the bands of youth were procuring more shotguns.
It is impossible to predict whether the violence will continue and spread to the much larger cluster of Parisian suburbs around the town of Seine-Saint-Denis, the area where violence was concentrated in 2005, or to the rest of the country.
It’s time that the French Police start cracking some skulls. To allow those thugs to riot with impunity just encourages this type of nonsense in the future. Those rioters are just pissed off, because President Sarkozy thinks they should hold down a job like everyone else.
They think they’re entitled to live free and clear off the backs of tax paying French citizens. These are not seniors we’re talking about, but able bodied young people who are just lazy and militant. What is happening in France is a prime example of what socialist policies create in a society.
Anyone who fires a shotgun at Police should be shot on site. It’s unbelievable that the French Police are warning that they won’t continue to be fired at without responding. Policemen have actually been shot, but the Police has yet to shoot back.
That’s one situation you damn sure wouldn’t see in America. If rioters began shooting at the Police, it would trigger a Fallujah style showdown.
-Chris Jones
