[rant on]
The starting point has been the horrible (and nonetheless stupid) death of two teenagers, supposedly chased by the police.
Was it hot pursuit or not, nobody knows up to now....

Then the Interior's Minister had some "harsh" words, promising the inhabitants of that poor suburb he would get rid of the "riffraff".
A few months ago, he did speak about "cleaning up" the suburbs.

So, some people resent those words and pretend he insulted the whole community.
And that's a good enough reason to start riots !

Anyway, I don't see what this has to do with what is actually happening : cars, buses, warehouses, nursery schools, a.s.o. burning every night since 11 days.

Some people say all this is due to poverty, unemployement, racial segregation a.s.o...

But I would not say these "incidents" have a political meaning : they burn their own neighbours' cars, people not richer than they are, people already in difficulties up to their throat.. Plain stupid.
If they would burn cars in rich suburbs or destroy more meaningful buildings... then it could eventually be understood as a political statement.
But burning your little brothers/sisters nursery school !?! What is this supposed to mean ??

Now, looking at how things are spreading around in various towns of France, it may not be impossible to see there some kind of organisation...
Are there "political" leaders (or religious extremists ?) behind these riots ? Or are the organisers just drug dealers trying to exploit a bad situation, to prevent police forces to "clean" these suburbs of a few criminal elements ?
Who really knows ?

Or it may simply be a game, a contest between differents "cities", just to see who get the most TV coverage, who "scores" more cars...
Most of these "rioters" are just teenagers, looking for some fun. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />
Yes, they can be stupid enough for this to be a valuable explanation ! <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

[rant off]
(just my own uneducated opinion)

Look at any of the "race" riots we had here in the 60s and 70s, or after the Rodney King verdict- the same thing.

Humans are stupid, they poo in thier own nests.

Thanks, Frenchy... sounds like the L.A. riots at a different longitude, intellectual midgets striking out at whatever's at hand rather than honest to God protestors hitting tangible, well thought out targets.

Again, stay safe, I'd hate to lose a fellow Hennessy fan.

Troy

I gotta wonder how many riots are 100% anger. I mean, watch video of crowds rioting sometime. Sure, there are some pissed off people there. But I also see a lot of smiles. Those people aren't angry. They're having fun. I think riots attract a much larger, secondary group that uses the riot as an excuse to tear stuff up.

This is probably not true of all riots, or even true during the entire period of a single riot, or true in all areas of a riot, but I think the effect is there. A riot is interactive entertainment with the possibility of free gifts.

I've never understood how a crowd of fans of the winning team in a giving sport can tear up a town, but they do. No anger there... Excited, often drunk, people. A super saturated solution of idiocy just waiting for a reason to crystalize. Someone throws a rock through a window and...

What does logic have to do with it?

People like to destroy stuff. I think it's just the destruction they like, and I don't think it goes farther than that. I suspect there are a lot of terrorist mentalities out there, but they haven't got a cause. Do they really need one? No, I don't think they do.

I think it's mob mentality, lose yourself in the group, hide in the dark, then strike and run.

It happens if a group's sports team doesn't win. It happens if they DO win. It's why soldiers shot the nose off the Great Sphinx. It's why vacant buildings are vandalized. It's why a couple of boys walking down the street have to throw a rock through a window.

Is someone going to pick them out of the mob and arrest them? Probably not, but if they do, there won't be any great penalty for it.

Sue

It looks like a "religion of peace" missionary activity:

They are just spreading "peace" to the infidel.

All of the last nights I´ve seated in front of the TV together with my wife starring with open mouth at the screen. But are we really have to wonder about ?

Have you ever played "DOOM" or "Halflife" or ... ?
It seems to be very entertaining to a lot of people playing such games. But they are virtual.
It´s like the drem to beat up your so much hated boss ...

On one hand of course this could be a good ventile for agressions. On the other hand you are "training" something in which you succeed without any risks but you never can practice in real life (I hope so).

I´ve heared about elite soldiers to often build up similar problems.
They train all day long for years. They are as motivated to do there job as anyone can be. But how often are they allowed to practice what they´re drilled to? (Fortunatly) very seldom to never!

In an other picture it´s like you´re trained for long to play soccer/football/rugby/whatever but you aren´t allowed to practice in a real match. Must be frustating.

Back to the "roiteers". They surely have more violent "dreams" with a cause than most of us that live well situated.
They´re sick of it all and I personally can understand their anger very well.
A lot of them might dream of kicking someones arse and now there is the opportunity to strike back against any. All the hate and anger is able to explode. Imagine how relieving this must be!?! From this point it seems not that irritating to me that you can see a lot of smilling faces in the mob.

Don´t get me wrong. I´m not sympathizing with anyone who behaves like them. All I say is that I can understand the mechanism...

After all has been burned and crushed they´ll have less then ever.
I pity them.

Molf

So... in answer to Sue, Groo, and You... the best most expeditious answer is " Fire on the crowd... chest level ". I know, I know, "That's barbaric!!!", but something needs to be done, and the Big Blue Marble's overpopulated anyway... play by the rules, or get thrown out of the game. Yes I AM a barbarion, thank you!

Troy

Situations like this, you start to appreciate Big Brother's desire for a suite of non lethal crowd control options. Tear gas won't do it... you need something than can "taser" hundreds of people at once.

I think riots would be a lot less effective if (again, yes, I'm on my soapbox) the media would stop giving them center stage. Just a brief "In case you hadn't noticed, we've a bit of unrest in certain areas" would be sufficient. Instead, the riot makes tv which fuels the riot which makes tv which...

ObETS: Yet another reason to have at least a few days supply of food and water. You never really know when you're going to be in a situation where you'd rather not go outside for a while.

Ya got that right!!! Yet another reason I've kept up the Y2K stash... no, I didn't use it then, but it's been cycled/replaced many times, and it's always nice to know you've got a few months worth of chow at hand if all else goes to hell. Besides, I'm constantly eating at last week/month/year's sale prices...Ya gotta love THAT <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Troy