Spitballs, slingshots, endless repetition of the question “I know you are but what am I…?” How can adults put a stop to such youthful tomfoolery? I mean, reporting on it accurately is out of the question, right? So, what, then…? Maybe teargas? From the AP, “Clashes erupt at Paris’ Gare du Nord”:
Riot police firing tear gas and brandishing batons clashed Tuesday with bands of youths who shattered windows and looted shops at a major Paris train station, and officials said seven people were arrested.
Officers and police dogs charged at groups of marauding youths, some of them wearing hoods, who mingled with commuters and travelers at the Gare du Nord  one of Paris’ most important transport hubs.
Some of the youths threw trash cans and other objects at the officers, who responded by firing tear gas.
One woman was evacuated by paramedics for inhalation of tear gas.
The clashes began in midafternoon, and forced the closure of the station’s subway and commuter lines for several hours. The station’s long-distance rail hub and Eurostar terminal, which is attached to the subway station, remained open throughout.
[…]
A standoff ensued between officers and some 100 youths.
One wonders, given Paris’ chequered history with its “youth” communities, just which collection of “youths” were involved in yesterday’s riots.
I mean, was this like some type of French homage to the surrealist fight sequences in Philip Kaufman’s masterpiece, The Wanderers? An iteration of Quadrophenia’s angster rioting?
Or is there something about these “youths” we are simply not being told? You know—for our own good.
(h/t LGF)
Some photos here.
Jeff,
Of course there is something we are not being told – if you are not paying attention:
That makes it clear doesn’t it?
Major,
The link doesn’t work.
C’mon they just want the rathskeller in the basement of the student union re-opened.
It was merely a typo, which can be blamed on translation from French to English. These were actually Utes, protesting encroachment by European interlopers on their traditional hunting ground in the Gare du Nord mountains.
Quite understandable, given Parisians’ harsh treatment of Apaches attempting to perform their native dances during the first part of the last century.
Dang, the yokel beat me to it.
Apparently some unfortunate forgot to pay for his Ute Pass, so…riot.
Youths of Peace ?
“Hell96″- appropos when speaking of the current state of France methinks.
Uh…did you say ‘yutes’ What’s a yute?
That wouldn’t be Fwench for North African, would it?
I haven’t clicked on Major John’s link, but I’m willing to venture the “youths” in question are swarthy and quite fond of ”scarves.”
Where’s Claude Rains when you need him to “Round up the usual suspects.”
Merde!
Aw crap – it was a link to a slideshow of 15 photos from AFP in Yahoo News. It appears to no longer be up – it got bumped off by two new ones. Fooey.
I saw the slideshow – that was heavy in the “police-in-riot-gear” genre, and light in “rioting youths” pictures.
Well, it’s not much more clear, but there is this little tidbit:
h/t: Roger Simon
“Keep your manhands off my manhandle!”
At some point, Chirac is just going to have to bite the bullet and truly crack down heavily on these radical Presbyterian youths.
Hey, how do know they aren’t all Mormon missionaries?
It was the hoods that gave it away. Mormon missionaries would have bike helmets and backpacks. Missionaries are also fond of terrorizing the populace with questions like:
I’ve seen footage of the scuffles on TV: at least some of the rioters were undisputably white.
Who mentioned anything about skin color til you?
Here’s a pic of the youths
Those are the Human Shields over from Berkeley to protect the French Youth in case any of the Gendarmes are Jewish or secret American Neocon Fascists.
I’m pretty sure they are Mods. You know the decorated scooter, the neat suits, skinny ties, lots of amphetamines. Those youths can be hell. You nailed it with Quadrophenia.
kelly, let’s not try to hide behind a finger, shall we?
I report what I saw, no more no less. I don’t see the banlieu problem of France as exclusively muslim: it is a combination of class tension, culture, ethnicity and religion too.
I figured it was just because they’re French.
That’s enough to drive anyone to insanity.
If you paid any attention to ethnic relations in france you’d see that the problem is kind of that they are NOT french
The fact that these guys are predominantly Muslim just is irrelevant eh? Certainly not to the point anyone in the news should mention this fact, apparently.
“More Moslems came, and soon a small mosque was built, which attracted yet others. As long as Zoroastrians remained in the majority, their lives were tolerable; but once the Moslems became the more numerous, a petty but pervasive harassment was apt to develop. This was partly verbal, with taunts about fire-worship, and comments on how few Zoroastrians there were in the world, and how many Moslems, who must therefore posses the truth; and also on how many material advantages lay with Islam. The harassment was often also physical; boys fought, and gangs of youth waylaid and bullied individual Zoroastrians. They also diverted themselves by climbing into the local tower of silence and desecrating it, and they might even break into the fire-temple and seek to pollute or extinguish the sacred flame. Those with criminal leanings found too that a religious minority provided tempting opportunities for theft, pilfering from the open fields, and sometimes rape and arson. Those Zoroastrians who resisted all these pressures often preferred therefore in the end to sell out and move to some other place where their co-religionists were still relatively numerous, and they could live at peace; and so another village was lost to the old faith.”
Boyce, A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism, pp. 7-8;
Let me tell you though, you really don’t want a zoroastrian in your neighborhood.