| Posted on Fri, Nov. 04, 2005 |
Weeklong riots spread to 20 more French towns The Associated Press AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France — A week of riots in poor neighborhoods outside Paris gained dangerous new momentum Thursday, with youths shooting at police and firefighters and attacking trains and symbols of the French state. Facing mounting criticism, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin vowed to restore order as the violence spread to at least 20 towns, highlighting the frustration simmering in housing projects that are home to many North African immigrants. Police deployed for a feared eighth night of clashes after bands of youths lobbing stones and petrol bombs ignored President Jacques Chirac’s appeal for calm. Riots erupted in an outburst of anger in Clichy-sous-Bois after the Oct. 27 accidental electrocution of two teenagers who fled a soccer game and hid in a power substation when they saw police enter the area. Youths in the neighborhood suspect that police chased the teens to their deaths. Since then, riots have swelled into a broader challenge against the French state and its security forces. The violence has exposed deep discontent in neighborhoods where African and Muslim immigrants and their French-born children are trapped by poverty, racial discrimination and crime. The Interior Ministry released a preliminary report Thursday exonerating officers of any direct role in the teenagers’ deaths.

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