77 police injured in Paris riots

At least 77 police officers were injured when rampaging youths rioted in the suburbs of Paris overnight, a senior union official said today.

Officers came under fire as Molotov cocktails were thrown and dozens of cars were set on fire.

The violence was more intense that during three weeks of rioting in 2005, said the official, Patrice Ribeiro.

Police were shot at and are facing “genuine urban guerillas with conventional weapons and hunting weapons”, he said.

Some officers were hit by shotgun pellets, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said.

She said there were six serious injuries, “people who notably were struck in the face and close to the eyes”.

The trigger for the rioting was the deaths of two teenagers in a crash with a police patrol car on Sunday in Villiers-le-Bel, a town of public housing blocks which is home to a mix of Arab, black and white residents in the French capital’s northern suburbs.

Residents claimed that officers left the crash scene without helping the teenagers, whose motorbike collided with the car. Officials cast doubt on the claim, but the internal police oversight agency was investigating.

Youths first rioted that night and again overnight, when the violence apparently got worse.

Youths set police barricades on fire and threw stones and Molotov cocktails at officers, who retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets. In Villiers-le-Bel and surrounding areas, youths set fire to 36 vehicles, the area’s prefecture said.

Youths were seen firing buckshot at police and reporters. A police union official said a round from a hunting rifle pierced the body armour of one officer, who suffered a serious shoulder wound.

Among the buildings targeted by the youths was a library, which was set alight.

In Sunday’s violence, eight people were arrested and 20 police officers were injured – including the town’s police chief, who was beaten in the face when he tried to negotiate with the rioters, police said. One firefighter was also injured.

The unrest in 2005 was prompted by the deaths of two teenagers electrocuted in a power substation while hiding from police in a suburb north east of Paris.