Riots in France Underscore Rising Racial Tensions

By Anastacia Mott Austin

After two teenagers were killed this week in an accident between a motorcycle and a police car, riots erupted in a suburb north of Paris.

The majority of the rioting began in the town of Villiers-le-Bel, where the two boys, Mohcin Sehhouli, 15, and Lakamy Samouri, 16, were killed. The incident marks a growing tension between the predominantly black and Arabic minorities who live in the suburbs which ring the city of Paris, and the police, who some say are blatantly racist.

Rioters claim that the police intentionally ran into the two boys, while the three officers involved say that the boys rode into an intersection and were not wearing helmets when they collided with the police car. An internal police investigation is taking place, as well as a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Angry citizens, mostly young men, set fire to government buildings and burned cars, and in a troubling new trend, fired at police officers with hunting rifles. More than 100 police officers were injured in the melee Monday and Tuesday, say officials.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew back to the country from a visit to China, and immediately visited injured officers at the hospital, as well as the families of the two boys killed.

Sarkozy told reporters that those who shot at police will be found and fully prosecuted. They "will find themselves in a criminal court," he said. "That has a name, it is an assassination attempt."

Added Sarkozy, "It is not something that we can tolerate, regardless of the drama of the deaths of these two youths on a motorcycle."

After 1,000 police officers were called to the area, the rioting had greatly diminished by Wednesday morning, said officials. "The situation is under control," said Denis Joubert, the director of public safety for the Villiers-le-Bel area, to the press.

Tuesday night, 138 cars were burned, but according to local officials, that is "almost normal," as approximately 100 vehicles are regularly burned per evening throughout the country. This statistic was confirmed by a number of news sources, one which stated that approximately 30,000 cars had been torched so far this year. Apparently car-burning is quite common in France, especially on New Year’s Eve, when the average is about 300-400 cars burned.

During his election campaign last spring, opponents accused Sarkozy of being unsympathetic to the plight of poor minorities living on the outskirts of Paris. Sarkozy countered by presenting a plan to increase educational opportunities in the area.

Two young men who told reporters they had been a part of the rioting said, "This is just the beginning. This is a war. There is no mercy. We want two cops dead," said one. Added his friend, "The police brought this on themselves, they will regret it."

The two, who spoke to reporters at the International Herald Tribune, declined to reveal their names but said they were of Turkish and Algerian descent.

Said Naim Masoud, a teacher in the Villiers-le-Bel area, to the press, "It will take a lot more than riot police to cure this neighborhood. These children feel like foreigners. It is inexcusable what they are doing, but the seeds are deep."