France on Fire

The clashes between the french muslims and african immigrants against all of France have finally spilled out of Paris and into the suburbs, with the rioters putting buildings (nusery school) , cars and even people (old woman on crutches) on fire. Marauding youths set fire to cars, warehouses and a nursery school and pelted rescuers with rocks early Saturday, as the worst rioting in a decade spread from Paris to other French cities. The U.S. warned Americans against taking trains to the airport via strife-torn areas. A savage assault on a bus passenger highlighted the dangers of travel in Paris' impoverished outlying neighborhoods, where the violence has entered its second week. Attackers doused the woman, in her 50s and on crutches, with an inflammable liquid and set her afire as she tried to get off a bus in the suburb of Sevran Wednesday, judicial officials said. The bus had been forced to stop because of burning objects in its path. She was rescued by the driver and hospitalized with severe burns. Justice Minister Pascal Clement deplored the incident, saying it caused him "great emotion." Rioters burned more than 500 vehicles Friday as the unrest grew beyond the French capital for the first time. Unrest returned to the streets in the evening and early Saturday, the ninth night in a row. Police said troublemakers fired bullets into a vandalized bus and burned 85 more cars in Paris and Suresnes, just to the west. In Meaux, east of Paris, officials said youths stoned rescuers aiding someone who had fallen ill. Meanwhile, warehouses in Suresnes and Aubervilliers, on the northern edge of Paris, were set ablaze. Officials said other fires raged outside the capital in Lille, Toulouse, and Rouen, while an incendiary device was tossed at the wall outside a synagogue in Pierrefitte, northwest of Paris. It's getting ugly... But here is what's funny, the foreign ministery doesn't see cause for alarm and blames the negative image of what's going on in Paris on the media. I kid you not. The Foreign Ministry said it was concerned that foreign media coverage was exaggerating the situation. "I don't have the feeling that foreign tourists in Paris are in any way placed in danger by these events," ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said, adding that officials were "sometimes a bit surprised" by the foreign coverage. Yeah. Burning over 500 cars in one night, arresting 170 people, shooting bullets into buses and putting old people on fire, ehh, no big deal. Nothing to see here folks. Move along. And visit France. We may not be able to protect you, but we promise you a smokin hot vacation. Get it? Smokin hot? Ahh, ve are zo fahnneeeeee! Only the french man. Only the french.