France’s Prime Minister Calls Rioters ‘Criminals’

During the second night of rioting in Paris’ suburb known as Villiers-le-Bel, over eighty police officers have been injured. On Monday night, four of them were seriously injured according to the police unions. Upon returning from China, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy has called an emergency meeting.

The youths that have rioted said they were avenging the two teenagers killed when their motorcycle collided with a police car on Sunday. During the riots, some officers have suffered bullet wounds while others were injured by stones, fireworks, and petrol bombs thrown by the rioters.

Officers have responded with both tear gas and rubber bullets.

According to police, they explain that the motorcycle was at top speed and wasn’t registered for street use. They further explained that the two teenagers weren’t wearing helmets along with ignoring the traffic rules.

According to BBC, a lot of the anger is of the initial results of the inquiry that gave the suggestion that officers were not to blame for the crash. It was also said that such areas has a lot of money being poured into to combat discrimination and to boost job opportunities.

But, it said to be irrelevant as resentment between the youth and police seem worse than ever.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said that they were organized by criminals. She explained that criminals were using the youth to riot while they robbed shops and stores.