It’s day 11 of the French riots and there is no end in sight. Quite the contrary. Rioting supposedly spread to 300 towns. Today a 61-year old man who had been beaten into a coma by one of the rioters was the first confirmed death. Last night the first cars went up in flames in the German cities of Berlin and Bremen. The politicians are at a loss. No wonder. '68 won’t work as a political reference. 1992 is more like it – the year of the Los Angeles riots, because it isn't a riot with a political aim. It’s not even fueled by some jihadist fervor, which would be as irrational as the current rage, but at least fit into some known political coordinates. It's true that being muslim has isolated many of the rioters from mainstream society, it's also true that islamic fundamentalists used that very frustration to recruit, but right now it’s pure nihilism sweeping throught the street of Europe.
The stories are quite similar. The LA riots might have been triggered by the acquittal of the four cops who had beaten up Rodney King. The true anger that had simmered in the city for months had been the killing of Latasha Harlin though, a black teenager who had been shot by a Korean grocer, who was only sentenced to a fine of $ 500.-.
In the US riots have been started by violence against minority youth again and again. In Paris the riots were triggered by the death of 15 year old Banou Traorés and 17 year old Ziad Benna in the banlieue of Chlichy-sous-bois. The two teenagers had been electrocuted in a transformer station, supposedly after they had been chased by police.
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If you speak French, there are quite a few websites that give you some insight from the streets:
Friends of Banou and Ziad started a condolence website that has hundreds of heated comments.
There is some debate on the rap-blog 9.3 Ghetto Star.
Other sites with lots of commentaries from the street are Chlichy Sous Bombesand les K1-FRY.The blog Violances Urbaines was closed by Skyblog, because of inciting commentaries.
There is some reporting from the streets on Indymedia Paris.
Three bloggers were arrested and charged with inciting riots on blogs they ran on the website of the radio station Skyrock
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