Nearly 900 vehicles were torched and 250-plus people arrested yesterday as French authorities feared those behind the country's worst rioting for decades -- now well into its second week -- were becoming organized.
Deprived suburbs with large immigrant populations on the fringes of Paris were again the scene of the worst of the rampages, which basically took the form of hit-and-run arson attacks.
But in a developing phenomenon that has authorities worried, violence also flared in other cities around the country -- Lille and Rouen in the north, Rennes in the west, and Toulouse, Pau and Marseille in the south.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and other officials said they believed the gangs of hooded youths responsible were showing signs of organization, and were urging copycat acts via Internet blogs.
There were concerns over the fact the unrest was concentrated in neighborhoods with Muslim immigrants from France's former Arab and African colonial territories, a small proportion of whom have turned to radical Islam in the past few years.
France has Europe's biggest Muslim population, estimated at more than 5 million, or nearly 10 percent of its total inhabitants.
Although police officials have said there was no sign of external forces orchestrating the riots, Paris prosecutor general Yves Bot told Europe 1 radio yesterday there was "organized violence," but did not say by whom.
"If I could give an exact answer, those people would already be under arrest," Bot said. "But we can see organized actions, a strategy."
He said 897 vehicles had been burnt overnight around the country on Friday, including 656 in the Paris region.
A total of 253 people were detained for questioning, some of them minors caught with fire-bombs, police said.
Scores of people were evacuated overnight from two apartment blocks in a northern Paris suburb after dozens of cars were set alight in an underground garage.
Two textile warehouses and a car showroom were also torched to the northeast of the city.
Young men could be seen talking into mobile telephones as they ran around suburbs individually or in small groups while riot police patrols drove by.
Rather than attack police, as they had early in the riots, many youths now opted instead to run away after lighting fires on cars and in shops, although some bottles, stones and gasoline bombs were still thrown at firemen.
The violence began on Oct. 27, sparked by the electrocution of two youths of African and Arab origins in the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois after they hid from police in an electrical relay station.
But since then it has become a challenge to the authority of the government and a protest against the dismal economic prospects, rampant discrimination and heavy-handed policing that the youth in the suburbs suffer.
Early yesterday Sarkozy made a surprise visit to a police command center west of Paris, and told officers: "Arrests -- that's the key."
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)