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2005 French riots

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dbachmann (talk | contribs) at 20:58, 8 November 2005 (→Timeline: if we're going to mention Islam above, we'll mention the UIOF here. Particulars of rioting go to the timeline article now.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Cities affected by sustained rioting as of 8 November.
2005 French civil unrest
Main article Timeline
Response Context

Beginning in the suburbs of Paris on 27 October 2005, civil unrest or riots spread mainly through the outskirts of urban areas of France and has continued for twelve consecutive nights[1]. It is the most dramatic civil disorder experienced in France since the events of May 1968 [2].

Rioting was triggered by the deaths of two teenagers in Clichy-sous-Bois, a poor commune in an eastern banlieue (suburb) of Paris. The violence subsequently spread to other areas of the Île-de-France région (Seine-et-Marne, Val-d'Oise, Suresnes) and from 3 November to other cities in France, affecting all fifteen of the large aires urbaines [3][4][5][6].

The civil unrest is manifested primarily in mass arson attacks on vehicles and buildings, but has also led to clashes between civilians, mostly poor youths, and the French Police. So far, thousands of vehicles have been torched and several hundred people have been arrested[7]. Rioters have fired on police with pistols and shotguns in the southern Parisian suburb of Grigny, injuring 30 policemen, three of them seriously.[8]. The first fatality was reported to be an Parisian (Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, 61) who was attacked whilst trying to extinguish a fire [9] near his home. On 8 November, President Jacques Chirac declared a state of emergency, effective at midnight.

Trigger

Rioting areas in the Paris region as of 4 November

On Thursday 27 October 2005, a group of 10 high school teenagers were playing soccer in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois. The teenagers allegedly ran and hid when police officers arrived to conduct immigration-ID checks. Three of the teenagers, thinking they were being chased by the police, climbed a wall to hide in a power substation [10] [11]. "Bouna Traoré, a 15-year-old of Mali [or Mauritanian [12]] background, and Zyed Benna, a 17-year-old of Tunisian origin" [13] were electrocuted by a transformer in the electrical relay substation. Muttin Altun, 17, was injured and hospitalized. [14]

The New York Times reports, citing two police investigations, that the incident began at 5:20 p.m. on Thursday, 27 October 2005 in Clichy-sous-Bois when police were called to a construction site there to investigate a possible break in. Six youths were detained by 5:50 p.m. During questioning at the police station in Livry-Gargan at 6:12 p.m. blackouts occured at the station and in nearby areas. These were caused, police say, by the electrocution of the two boys and the injury of the third. [15]

"According to statements by Mr. Altun, who remains hospitalized with injuries, a group of 10 or so friends had been playing soccer on a nearby field and were returning home when they saw the police patrol. They all fled in different directions to avoid the lengthy questioning that youths in the housing projects say they often face from the police. They say they are required to present identity papers and can be held as long as four hours at the police station, and sometimes their parents must come before the police will release them." [16]

There is controversy over whether or not the teens were actually chased. The local prosecutor, François Molins, has said they believed so, but the police were actually after other suspects attempting to avoid an identity check [17]. Molins and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy maintain that the dead teenagers had not been "physically pursued" by the police. This is disputed by some: The Australian reports that "Despite denials by police officials and Sarkozy and de Villepin, friends of the boys said they were being pursued by police after a false accusation of burglary and that they "feared interrogation" [18].

This event ignited pre-existing tensions. Protesters told the Associated Press the unrest was an expression of frustration with high unemployment and police harassment in the areas. One protester said, "People are joining together to say we've had enough," and continued, "We live in ghettos. Everyone lives in fear." [19][20] The rioters' suburbs are also home to a large North African immigrant population, adding ethnic and religious tensions which many believe contribute further to such frustrations.

Historical context

Main article: Social situation in the French suburbs

Recent political context

According to a November 5 article in the New York Times, "while a majority of the youths committing the acts are Muslim, and of African or North African origin," "the mayhem has yet to take on any ideological or religious overtones," and noted that youths in the affected regions in Paris say that "second-generation Portuguese immigrants" and "some children of native French" have been involved in the violence. [21]

The BBC reports that French society's perceptions of Islam and of immigrants have alienated some French Muslims and may have been a factor in the causes of the riots; "Islam is seen as the biggest challenge to the country's secular model in the past 100 years," and the "assertiveness of French Islam is seen as a threat not just to the values of the republic, but to its very security," due to "the worldwide rise of Islamic militancy." The BBC also questioned whether such alarm is justified, citing that France's Muslim ghettos are not hotbeds of separatism and that "the suburbs are full of people desperate to integrate into the wider society". [22]

Upon his nomination as Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy promised to lead both a strict policy of zero tolerance against underground crime, promote law and order, and to promote social integration of the rejected. His actions are often criticised because of his use of television and the media.

On Wednesday, October 19, Sarkozy announced a crackdown on urban violence and black marketeers on Wednesday, ordering specially trained police to tackle 25 neighbourhoods across the country [23]. Sarkozy went there and declared he wanted to "clean out the city with a Kärcher" (nettoyer la cité au Kärcher). On October 25, as he went to Argenteuil, Nicolas Sarkozy used the youth slang word "racaille" ("rabble"). Inhabitants of these neighbourhoods felt insulted, feeling that all the inhabitants were considered offenders and criminals. Stones and bottles were tossed at him. [24]

Timeline

Main article: Timeline of the 2005 French civil unrest

Rioting began in Clichy-sous-Bois on October 27, and spread throughout Seine-Saint-Denis and beyond to other parts of the Île-de-France region, during the following five days. On 3 November, first arson attacks were reported from beyond the Île-de-France, in Dijon and Rouen. The worst night of rioting so far was the night of 6 November, the 11th night of the riots, when 274 towns throughout France reported arson attacks on vehicles and buildings. All fifteen aires urbaines of France were reported as affected. On November 7, 2005, the Union of Islamic Organisations of France issued a fatwa condemning the ongoing violence. On Tuesday, 8 November, President Jacques Chirac declared a state of emergency following an emergency session of his cabinet, and the re-activation of a 1955 law enacted during the Algerian war, allowing local authorities to impose curfews, beginning on Tuesday, 12 PM, with an initial 12-day limit.

Assessment of rioting

Assessments of the extent of violence and damage that occurred during the riots are under way. Figures may be incomplete or inaccurate. Some French media sources like France 3 have also decided not to report the quantity of damages in order to avoid inflaming the situation.[25]

Key data

  • Started: 17:20 on Thursday, 27 October 2005 in Clichy-sous-Bois
  • Towns affected: 274 [26]
  • Property damage: 5,873 vehicles (Not counting buildings)
  • Deaths: 1 (Not counting Benna and Traoré)
  • Arrests: 1,500+
  • Police and firefighter injuries: 120

Source: BBC News unless stated

Tables and figures

date vehicles burned arrests dead extent of riots sources
1. Friday 28/10 Clichy-sous-Bois
2. Saturday 29/10 29 14 Clichy-sous-Bois [27]
3. Sunday 30/10 30 19 Clichy-sous-Bois [28]
4. Monday 31/10 Clichy-sous-Bois, Montfermeil
5. Tuesday 1/11 69 Seine-Saint-Denis
6. Wednesday 2/11 40 Seine-Saint-Denis, Seine-et-Marne Val-d’Oise, Hauts-de-Seine
7. Thursday 3/11 315 29 Île-de-France, Dijon, Rouen, Bouches-du-Rhône [29]
8. Friday 4/11 596 78 Île-de-France, Dijon, Rouen, Marseille [30] [31]
9. Saturday 5/11 897 253 Île-de-France, Rouen, Dijon, Marseille, Évreux, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Hem, Strasbourg, Rennes, Nantes, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Pau, Lille [32] [33] [34]
10. Sunday 6/11 1,295 312 Île-de-France, Nord, Eure, Eure-et-Loir, Haute-Garonne, Loire-Atlantique, Essonne. [35]
11. Monday 7/11 1,408 395 1 274 towns in total. Île-de-France, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Midi-Pyrénées, Rhône-Alpes, Alsace, Franche-Comté. [36] [37] [38]
12. Tuesday 8/11 1,173 330 Paris region, Lille, Auxerre, Toulouse, Alsace, Lorraine, Franche-Comté [39] [40] [41]
TOTAL > 5,800 > 1,500 1

Possible spread to other countries

Belgium
On Sunday, November 6, the first possibly related incident outside France took place. Five cars were torched in Saint-Gilles, Brussels in Belgium. Belgian police considered it as an isolated case. [42] However, on Monday another five cars were torched in the region, as more were overturned and Molotov cocktails were thrown at the police. [43] In Liège, Sint-Niklaas, Brugge and even the rural community Dilbeek there were isolated events of car burning and Molotov throwing. [44] [45]
Germany
A number of arson attacks and other acts of vandalism possibly inspired by the riots in France have been committed in Berlin, Germany. Six cars were set ablaze in Bremen and Berlin on the night between 6 and 7 November. In Berlin, five cars were set on fire. In Bremen, a caravan (camper) burned down. Police have not ruled out the possibility that those were copycat attacks related to those in France. [46]
Denmark
A wave of arson in Aarhus in Denmark has occurred over the past week days. [47]
Spain
On Monday, November 7, twenty trash cans, five cars and a motorbike were torched in the city of Seville. Also some firefighters that were extinguishing the fire were injured by stones thrown by attackers. The subdelegate of the Spanish government in Seville considered it as an isolated case. [48] [49]

Response

Domestic

Political

Main article: Response to the 2005 civil unrest in France

Police

An official of Action Police CFTC, an "ultra-minority" police trade union [50], described the riots as a "civil war", and called on the French Army to intervene [51], [52]. This caused outrage, notably triggering responses from the UNSA-Police union, which represents the majority of riot police, describing the situation in less dramatic terms [53]. In response to the riots, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy stated that police officers should be armed with non-lethal weapons to combat urban violence [54]. Other voices in the public sphere have encouraged the use of deadly force as offering a more permanent solution to the problem of rioters. The French government, even prior to these riots, has been equipping law enforcement forces with less-lethal weapons (such as "flash-balls" and Tasers) in order to better deal with petty delinquency and urban unrest, especially in poor suburban communities.

French national police spokesman, Patrick Hamon, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying that there appeared to be no coordination among gangs in different areas. But he said youths in individual neighborhoods were communicating by cellphone text messages or email — arranging meetings and warning each other about police operations. According to the Guardian, (November 6 2005), Hamon said, "what we notice is that the bands of youths are, little by little, getting more organized, arranging attacks through cell phone text messages and learning how to make gasoline bombs." The police have found a gasoline bomb-making factory in a derelict building; Justice Ministry official Jean-Marie Huet told The Associated Press that gasoline bombs "are not being improvised by kids in their bathrooms." The apparent role of the Internet in helping to coordinate and cause unrest was also noted. [55]

Firefighters

A car burns in Strasbourg, France on the night of November 5 as riots spread from the Paris banlieues to other parts of the country. Photo credit: François Schnell.

The Paris Fire Brigade developed an "Urban violences plan", inspired by the experience of the Ulster firefighters (Libération, Oct. 29). The "hot zone" is identified and the fire engines wait outside this zone. When a fire is reported, a minimal team is engaged (two men outside the fire engine) under cover of the police forces; when the fire does not show any risk of spreading or causing casualties, the firefighters withdraw without attempting to put it out. While in the zone, firefighters stay alert for projectiles. The layout of the area is taken into account so that firefighters may not be trapped in a dead end.

During the current event, fire engines and firefighters from other départements were called for reinforcement; they were placed to defend calm areas (i.e. Paris intra muros), whereas the Paris Fire Brigade, which is a military organisation, dealt with the hot zones.

A few firefighters were injured by broken glass or molotov cocktails, while there are reports of an attack using fine pellet air guns.

International

Main article: Response to the 2005 civil unrest in France

References

See also

  • La Haine (Hate) A film about suburban violence in France, released in 1995.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paris suburb riots.
Wikinews has related news:


Photographs

  • [56] Map of affected areas as of November 7th

Editorials

Eyewitness blog reports

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