Riot police were deployed in a troubled suburb of Paris on
Tuesday night after around 100 youths armed with sticks and
baseball bats clashed with police.
In the worst such violence since the riots of last November, the
youths hurled Molotov cocktails at public buildings and pelted
police with projectiles.
The violence broke out in the town of Montfermeil just 15
kilometers east of Paris, with trouble also erupting in nearby
Clichy-sous-Bois -- the flash point of last year's riots.
Dozens of vans carrying riot police officers were stationed
around Montfermeil Tuesday night. A helicopter was used to keep the
area under surveillance.
Clashes erupted on Monday night when a gang attacked the mayor's
home in Montfermeil, shaking its gates and hurling stones at the
windows.
They also targeted the town hall, shattering its glass facade
with stones, throwing Molotov cocktails and setting fire to cars
and a large number of garbage bins.
The violence was a stark reminder of the anger of residents in
the suburbs, despite new government efforts to tackle high youth
unemployment and racial inequalities following the three weeks of
rioting last fall which shook the country.
National police said nine officers suffered light injuries,
mostly from projectiles, during the three hours of unrest in
Montfermeil on Monday.
(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2006)
