The Intifada in France II

In case you're not aware there's an intifada going on in France right now. Almost two weeks ago the London daily Telegraph reported that

Radical Muslims in France's housing estates are waging an undeclared "intifada" against the police, with violent clashes injuring an average of 14 officers each day.

As the interior ministry said that nearly 2,500 officers had been wounded this year, a police union declared that its members were "in a state of civil war" with Muslims in the most depressed "banlieue" estates which are heavily populated by unemployed youths of north African origin.

It said the situation was so grave that it had asked the government to provide police with armoured cars to protect officers in the estates, which are becoming no-go zones.

Here's the latest from the Telegraph

The French government yesterday held crisis talks with community leaders in an effort to halt mounting violence in suburbs around Paris, amid news that gangs of youths, mainly of North African descent, were intensifying attacks on police.

Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister, ordered his interior and justice ministers to "toughen up" sentences for those found guilty of assaulting officers, following a meeting with community leaders.

His announcement followed a series of violent incidents over the past weeks, culminating in the ambush of three police officers on Friday by youths in Epinay-sur-Seine, north of Paris.

In case you've forgotten, in October and November of 2005 massive riots broke out in Muslim-populated Paris suburbs. Over 8,900 cars were torched and over 2,800 arrested in 2 weeks of rioting.

This Agence France-Presse story in Expatica has additional alarming information

Another union — Action Police — said in a statement: "It shows that what we are dealing with here is not youths in need of more social aid, but individuals declaring war on the Republic."
...
"No-one has drawn the lessons of the 2005 riots. We are not sufficiently trained for urban violence, yet we are often in face-to-face situations," said another officer.

Le Monde newspaper meanwhile published ministry figures that appeared to confirm a growing willingness among young delinquents to choose police and other representatives of public services as targets.

Some 480 incidents of this type were recorded in September — a 30 percent increase on August, Le Monde said. And it quoted interior ministry figures showing that 2,458 police officers were hurt on service in the first six months of the year — compared to 4,246 for the whole of 2005.

"Behind the statistics police specialists detect a harder, better organised type of delinquency. However they are unwilling to draw definitive conclusions about the increase in attacks on police," Le Monde said.

Now I realize there's a big debate as to the nature of these riots, both the ones going on now and the ones last year. Some say that the Muslim youths are acting out of frustration from high unemployment and racism, others say that they are more motivated by jihad.

Call this a cop-out, but I think it's a little of both. There is high unemployment in general thoughout Europe, with it being particularly acute in poor communities such as those where the Muslim Algerians live. France brought them, or their parents and grandparents, actually, to France to serve as cheap labor. France did not want to integrate them, but by the same token the Muslims did not wish to be integrated.

So now you have these Muslim "youths", frustrated by their poverty, and as with so many Muslims have bought into the "victim culture". They have bought into the notion that their religion, which they barely understand, is under assault by the West. They've heard about the wonderful Jihad being fought against the "Crusaders" and "Zionists", and wish to join in.

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The Intifada in France