Rioters shrugged off emergency laws that took effect 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 firebomb.
However, the number of car burnings -- a barometer for the unrest -- dropped sharply, suggesting the movement lost steam. Overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, youths torched 617 vehicles, down from 1,173 the previous night, national police spokesman Patrick Hamon said. Incidents were reported in 116 towns, down from 226 the night before.
Car burnings are a pretty poor gauge of the insurrection's intensity, once they switch from burning cars to attacking more prominent targets such as subways, newspapers, and most significantly, churches and synagogues.
Moreover, the imposition of curfews for youth misses the point: even if every youth adhered to the curfew, the riots would still rage on, because most of the participants are not "youth", but grown men. And men engaged in urban warfare will not stop for such trivialities as curfews.
The MSM, by its misreporting, plays right into the hands of the insurgents.
Source: Globe and Mail
No comments:
Post a Comment