Third day on the job and already there's a riot.
On Monday, Nicolas Sarkozy finally stepped down as Minister of the Interior and made way for an interim minister, Francois Baroin. I'm betting Baroin is pretty happy he's only got the job for 2 months...
What started as a simple metro ticket control turned into a full-fledged shitshow last night at Gare du Nord, in Paris...one of the main metro and train stations in the city. There are conflicting reports on how it all got started, but as far as I can understand, things turned violent when passerbys took exception to the rather agressive way the metro security guards were treating this person who hadn't paid for a ticket. Some people got involved, friends were called up to come down and join the party, the CRS (riot police with a terrible reputation) stormed in and the situation escalated very rapidly. These videos pretty much show the whole thing unfold: looting, confrontations, beatings, arrests.
Gare du Nord is probably my least favourite metro station to walk through alone at night. It's huge, it's in a particularly unsavoury part of town and the security isn't that great. This was confirmed last night. Does anyone else find it unbelieavable that a) there were still travellers walking INTO Gare du Nord, suitcases in tow, while the rioters and police were engaged in a cat and mouse game throughout the cavernous halls of the station, that b) all trains and metros kept on running as usual, and that c) it took hundreds of policemen hours before they could finally secure the place? If this isn't a resounding indictment of Sarkozy's terrible track record as Minister of the Interior, then I don't know what is. France's next president? Here's hoping his first act as President is to secure the train stations for the weekly riots that will surely ensue...
What started as a simple metro ticket control turned into a full-fledged shitshow last night at Gare du Nord, in Paris...one of the main metro and train stations in the city. There are conflicting reports on how it all got started, but as far as I can understand, things turned violent when passerbys took exception to the rather agressive way the metro security guards were treating this person who hadn't paid for a ticket. Some people got involved, friends were called up to come down and join the party, the CRS (riot police with a terrible reputation) stormed in and the situation escalated very rapidly. These videos pretty much show the whole thing unfold: looting, confrontations, beatings, arrests.
Gare du Nord is probably my least favourite metro station to walk through alone at night. It's huge, it's in a particularly unsavoury part of town and the security isn't that great. This was confirmed last night. Does anyone else find it unbelieavable that a) there were still travellers walking INTO Gare du Nord, suitcases in tow, while the rioters and police were engaged in a cat and mouse game throughout the cavernous halls of the station, that b) all trains and metros kept on running as usual, and that c) it took hundreds of policemen hours before they could finally secure the place? If this isn't a resounding indictment of Sarkozy's terrible track record as Minister of the Interior, then I don't know what is. France's next president? Here's hoping his first act as President is to secure the train stations for the weekly riots that will surely ensue...
posted by Anne at 12:18 AM
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