france riot

Riot police on alert in Paris suburb after youths throw rocks,

MONTFERMEIL, France -- Riot police deployed in force to a troubled Paris suburb Tuesday night after youths hurled gasoline bombs at public buildings and pelted police with rocks, a stark reminder of last year's more widespread violence.

Dozens of vans carrying riot officers were stationed in Montfermeil, just 10 miles east of such Paris landmarks as the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre, and in the nearby suburb of Clichy-sous- Bois, the flash point of riots last year. A surveillance helicopter buzzed over the region.

While there were no immediate reports of a repeat of Monday's violence, a firebomb was thrown inside a police vehicle, setting it ablaze late Tuesday. Officers inside escaped; there were no injuries.

The first overnight clashes Monday and the tensions again Tuesday were a stark reminder of the anger that smolders in depressed French suburbs, despite new government efforts to tackle high youth unemployment and racial inequalities following the three weeks of similar, albeit far worse, rioting last fall.

National police said nine officers suffered light injuries, mostly from rocks and other projectiles, during the three hours of unrest in Montfermeil on Monday.

'ALL WE NEED IS A PRETEXT'

Police said they made three arrests and fired rubber pellets to try to disperse the roughly 100 youths.

The trigger was the arrest Monday afternoon of a suspect in the beating of a bus driver earlier this month, the mayor's office said.

Mayor Xavier Lemoine said he witnessed that first attack on the driver and had interceded to stop it.

He said about 100 people headed toward his house shouting insults, but police interceded.

He said gasoline bombs were thrown at city hall and that a separate municipal storeroom was partially burned. City hall also suffered two broken windows.

Youths from the neighborhood where Monday night's violence broke out said little had changed since last year's rioting and that their suburbs remain tinderboxes.

"All we need is a pretext for everything to begin again," said Joana, 15. She refused to give her surname, saying she feared trouble from police or her peers.

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