The French will have to go back to the drawing board after their attempt to halt the riots have come up far short of their goal. Instead of reducing the violence, the rioters instead changed tactics yet again and attacked the subway system in Lyon with gasoline bombs:

France declared a state of emergency Tuesday to quell the country's worst unrest since the student uprisings of 1968 that toppled a government, and the prime minister said the nation faced a "moment of truth" over its failure to integrate Arab and African immigrants and their children.

Rioters ignored the extraordinary security measures, which began Wednesday, as they looted and burned two superstores, set fire to a newspaper office and paralyzed France's second largest city's subway system with a gasoline bomb. ...

Officials were forced to shut down the southern city of Lyon's subway system after a gasoline bomb exploded in a station, a regional government spokesman said, adding no one was hurt.

Late Tuesday, rioters looted and set fire to a furniture and electronics store and an adjacent carpet store in Arras, in the northern Pas-de-Calais region and set fire to the Nice-Matin newspaper's office in Grasses, in the southeast the Alpes-Maritimes.

Nine buses were set ablaze at bus depot in Dole, in the eastern Jura region, and a bus exploded in Bassens, near the southwest city of Bordeaux after a gasoline bomb was thrown into it.

So new social programs don't work, and a heightened yet tentative police response has prompted a more significant attack on French infrastructure. Torching cars might signify localized discontent run amok; firebombing the subway system looks a lot more like a terrorist attack.

Will the media understand the significance of the tactical adaptation, or will it continue to pretend that this is nothing but youth running wild?

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» We musn't say either the M word or the I word when from The Pink Flamingo Bar Grill
Lyon subway shut down by Firebombs. To put that into some perspective, Lyon has a population of 1.5 Million in the Urban area, we might call it the Greater Lyon Area. And those poor disaffected youth who we musn't identify [Read More]

Tracked on November 9, 2005 1:13 AM

» Trieze from The Other Corner
That’s French for 13, the unlucky number of days France has been sweltering in the heat of violence. [Read More]

Tracked on November 9, 2005 5:40 AM

» That Worked Well from bRight & Early
The French government had a great idea, institute curfews and hand out wads of cash. That will bring the rioting under control. Uh, non. Rioters defied a state of emergency that took effect Wednesday, as they looted and burned two superstores, set fi... [Read More]

Tracked on November 9, 2005 5:43 AM

» Villepin Solves His Problems With Bribery from Three Knockdown Rule
Does anyone remember why we don't negotiate with terrorists? It's simple. If someone burns a car while asking for money, giving them money will teach them that burning cars to get what you want works. [Read More]

Tracked on November 9, 2005 11:51 AM