Rioters 'wanted to kill us'

2007-11-28 20:07

Paris - "It felt like they were out to kill us. We knew there were weapons in the suburbs, but never turned against us like that," one of the police officers shot during youth riots near Paris said on Wednesday.

Sent to the suburb of Villiers le Bel to quell an outbreak of violence that followed the death of two teens in a crash with police, Francois, who asked not to be fully identified, found himself under siege.

"We were attacked from all sides by youths armed with hunting rifles.

Scale of violence worse than the 2005 riots

"The kids were shooting at us at close range, loading and reloading their weapons. I've never seen anything like it. It was like in a movie. They were picking us off from 10 or 15m away.

"I was hit in the hand with what I thought was a slingshot. I didn't realise right away that it was buckshot, until I saw the hole in my trousers. I tried to protect my younger colleagues and I fell to the ground, said Francois.

Police unions say the scale and intensity of the violence unleashed since Sunday is worse than the 2005 riots, also sparked by the deaths of two youths.

A line was crossed, they say, when suburb gangs turned guns on the police, 120 of whom were injured, several by gunshots. The hunting rifles used by the gangs are dangerous anywhere within a 300m range.

Bruno Beschizza of the Synergie-Officiers police union said he had told Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie of the fear sparked among the police rank and file by the recent flare-up.

Francois said: "There were not enough of us to sustain that kind of a siege. I had run out of (rubber bullet) ammunition. We really got a fright. We felt they were out to kill us. We didn't know where we were any more."

Rioters would be severely punished

Police unionists and officers admitted that security forces were "caught off guard" on Monday, the worst night of violence.

Tuesday's stepped-up police operation, with 1 000 men and surveillance helicopters deployed to Villiers alone, was overseen by one of France's top police chiefs in a sign of the gravity of the situation.

President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed earlier on Wednesday that rioters who shot at police would be severely punished.

A report from Le Monde newspaper described boys as young as 13 taking orders from their elders to torch buildings and forming battle ranks against the police.

- AFP