Police fire tear gas in battles with Paris rioters

FRENCH police fired tear gas last night during running battles with rioters in a suburb north of Paris where two youths died after a crash involving a police car.

During a second night of disturbances some 100 riot police came under attack in Villiers-le-Bel from large fire crackers. They replied with tear gas, rubber bullets and paint guns designed to identify troublemakers, a Reuters witness said.

A car, a garbage truck and a police vehicle were set on fire.

The violence revived memories of the 2005 riots in France’s poor, often ethnically diverse, housing estates when thousands of cars were torched after two teenagers were electrocuted while apparently fleeing police.

Extra police had been drafted into the suburb yesterday in case of a repeat of Sunday’s disturbances when 28 cars and five buildings were torched, including a police station. Twenty-six police and fire officers were hurt. Nine people were arrested.

Police have launched an investigation into the accident at the weekend involving a police car and a motorcycle, driven by two youths aged 15 and 16. Police say the motorcycle was stolen and the youths ignored traffic regulations. The investigation will focus on whether the two officers helped the dying youths. Relatives and locals complained the police fled the scene.

President Nicolas Sarkozy was interior minister in 2005 and he took a tough line with the rioters which critics said helped stoke the violence.

Yesterday, the head of state called for calm.

“I call on everyone to calm down and let the justice system decide who was responsible,” Sarkozy told reporters during an official visit to Beijing.

Local public prosecutor Marie-Therese de Givry told LCI television the crash investigator’s preliminary findings showed the youngsters had turned into the path of the police vehicle.