Major station shut down as “immigrant youths” loot, burn
The historic and world-famous Parisian Gare Du Nord railroad and Metro station was shut down at rush hour on March 27 as non-French “youths” renewed the mass violence that has rocked France since 2005.
A male suspect (at 32, no “youth”) leapt over a ticket barrier and attacked two inspectors who stopped him. (The suspect has 22 previous infractions). A number of immigrants came to the defense of the suspect, and the situation “got out of hand and transformed into urban guerrilla warfare, into unacceptable, intolerable violence,” according to new Interior Minister Francois Baroin. Baroin had only begun his new job the day before, replacing the outgoing Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative running for President in the upcoming presidential election.
The 4pm arrest led to hooded “youths” rampaging through the station and out into surrounding streets, where they attempted to burn a bus. The burning of vehicles is a common tactic of such rioters. Inside the station, shops were sacked and garbage containers and an information booth set alight as commuters and tourists milled around in confusion. Hundreds of police were sent into the station, where they were met with showers of bottles and debris. The Paris Metro’s 4 and 5 lines were ordered not to stop at the Gare du Nord as police battled the mobs, using gas and dogs and making 13 arrests.The new violence is likely to help nationalist hopeful Jean-Marie Le Pen, who has warned France for decades about the consequences of Third World immigration.