Paris riots spark criticism of ‘zero tolerance’ policy

FRENCH youths rioted in a Paris suburb for the fifth night running early yesterday, raising fresh questions about Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy’s “zero tolerance” policy toward the violence.

Eleven vehicles were burned out and a policeman slightly injured in the latest overnight disturbances in the north-eastern Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, where passions were raised a day earlier when a tear gas grenade was fired into a mosque.

The violence began after two teenagers died last Thursday night when they were electrocuted in an electricity substation while apparently fleeing police.