Of burning upholstery... heralds the start of another CAR-B-Q season
in France.
-- SAINT-DIZIER, France (AP) -- Dozens of hooded youths battered two police vehicles with metal bars, set fire to more than a dozen parked cars and torched a community center in northeast France, officials said Friday.
The rampage in a tough neighborhood in Saint-Dizier, about 120 miles east of Paris, revived memories of a wave of car burnings, vandalism and clashes with police in 2005 fanned by feelings of alienation among French youths of Arab and African origin.
The traditional trashing of
"things we'd like to own someday" reached its apogee a couple of years ago... but this promises to be another bumper season.
In late 2005, anger over high unemployment and racial inequalities contributed to a three-week wave of rioting across France. Many of those involved were the French-born children of immigrants from former colonies.
Police have little or no control in some housing projects, where they face insults or attack. Firefighters have also been targeted and sometimes get police escorts.
Of burning upholstery... heralds the start of another CAR-B-Q season in France.
