Paris "Youths" Shift Attacks From Property To People

From todays Scotsman, with thanks to Always On Watch:


THE images are unnerving: hooded, swift-footed youths infiltrating protest rallies in the heart of tourist Paris, smashing shop windows, setting cars on fire, beating and robbing passers-by and throwing objects at the riot police.

They are called the casseurs - the smashers. With more marches planned for this week as part of a continuing protest over a new jobs law, the casseurs are the volatile chemical that could ignite an even bigger crisis for the government than the impasse over the law itself.

They create primarily a law-and-order problem, evoking the rioting that gripped the troubled suburbs of French cities for weeks last autumn. Pumped up by news coverage, these youths boast of trying to steal mobile phones and money and vow to take revenge for the daily humiliation they say they endure from the police.

But the casseurs create an image problem as well, as striking television images and photographs of youths, some of them masked, and the police using tear gas and water cannons, give the impression of a Paris under siege. 'Don't Go to Paris,' read a headline in the Sun last week.

In live coverage of the mass protests in Paris, CNN compared the protests to the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising in Beijing. What worries the authorities now is that the targets of anger are shifting, moving beyond attacks on property to attacks on people as well.

"I am deeply worried because we are seeing an unleashing of violence by 2,000 to 3,000 thugs who come to smash and loot," said embattled interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy. "My objective is to avoid mistakes by the police, so that people can protest in safety."

The police and independent analysts say that most of the vandalism and violence that has marred the protests has been by young men, largely immigrants or the children of immigrants, from tough, underprivileged suburbs, who roam in groups and have little else to keep them busy.

In the current protests, the technology of mobile phones makes it easier for the roving bands of youths to coordinate their actions and warn one another about police movements.

Some of the youths even share instant war trophies: photographs and short scenes of violence and vandalism they have captured on their mobile phones.


Note how the protesters are called "students," while the guys who are beating people are called "youths."

Students are students. Youths, just in case you don't know, are Muslims.

I think it might just be hard to say that in French, or something.

Jonz made a good suggestion. If you want to see who the "youths" are, go to Yahoo.co.uk, and type in "Paris youths."

Here's what you get.