Blacks Burning & Looting in France - Major Urban Riot Erupts after Police Incident

Buildings and cars were torched overnight as youths and police clashed in the northern French city of Amiens. 16 Officers Injured. 

From [HERE] and [HERE]  Police were shot at and buildings destroyed as rioting broke out in two major French cities, presenting the first big test of newly-elected president Francois Hollande’s leadership. Reports suggest the unrest may have been triggered after police arrested a man for dangerous driving.

Disaffected youths from north African immigrant estates went on the rampage in the northern cathedral city of Amiens on Monday, setting fire to property and seriously injuring several police officers. And yesterday there were outbreaks of trouble in the south-western city of Toulouse as the spectre of widespread urban disturbances returned to haunt France. Mr Hollande broke off from his holiday on the Riviera to pledge that the government 'will mobilise everything it can to fight this violence’.

Trouble first broke out in the Fasset district of Amiens when a driver was stopped by police for a routine check. Youths taunted the officers before throwing missiles at them. The situation was made worse by the presence of a crowd gathered to mourn a 20-year-old man who was killed in a motorcycle accident last Thursday.

Buildings were burnt down in the north of the city and many police officers were seriously injured, including 16 who suffered wounds from shotguns and fireworks. Riot police used rubber bullets and deployed a helicopter to try to stop the trouble, which intensified throughout Monday night. 'The situation got out of control and spread to nearby streets,’ said a police spokesman. 'Soon hundreds of rioters were involved. They were setting fire to bins and to cars and attacking anybody who tried to stop them.’

North Amiens is one of 15 tinderbox 'priority security zones’ identified by the government as requiring increased policing. The far-right Front National party, which has huge support in the depressed north of France, tried to link the riots with 'mass immigration’ causing 'huge insecurity’ across the country.

A local mayor in Amiens blamed mounting social tension for the trouble, saying those on isolated estates faced discrimination in everything from housing to employment. Gilles Demailly, the Socialist mayor of Amiens, said: 'There have been regular incidents here, but it has been years since we’ve known a night as violent as this, with so much damage done.’ He estimated that around £800,000 worth of damage had been caused by the latest riot.

The BBC's Christian Fraser, in Paris, says unrest in places like Amiens is often blamed on the widespread sense of alienation in these suburbs where youth unemployment can be as high as 40%. But, he says, local residents have blamed heavy-handed policing.

France is notorious for locating immigrant families, including thousands of Muslims from its former North African colonies, on rundown housing projects such as Fasset, where the worst of the latest trouble broke out.

Summer rioting represents a huge challenge to Mr Hollande during a period of record unemployment and economic decline.

Sixteen police officers were injured in the clashes with up to 100 youths, some of whom threw fireworks, large-sized shot and projectiles, say police. One police officer was in a serious condition, Mayor Gilles Demailly said, adding that the clashes had left behind a "scene of desolation".

A woman told BFMTV she had personal experience of aggressive, heavy-handed policing, and insisted that what occurred was "not gratuitous violence". "This is violence from anger! We're not animals. We vote and pay our taxes like everyone," said Sabrina Hadji.

In 2005, the deaths of two teenagers in Clichy-sous-Bois near Paris led to weeks of looting and car-burning in housing estates across France.

It sparked a debate about deprivation and social exclusion, but many analysts say little has changed for France's marginalised youth, many of whom are of North African origin.