Fw: Ticket dispute turns into riot on Paris metro

[John Ashworth]

So it's not only on the South African metro!

Ticket dispute turns into riot on Paris metro


Alexandra Topping and agencies
Wednesday March 28, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

A dispute over a metro ticket escalated into a riot last night at an international rail terminal in Paris.

Around 100 people were directly involved in clashes at the Gare du Nord with riot police, as hundreds of others looked on. Thirteen people were arrested.

The violence has led to criticisms of the police and raised fears of a repeat of the riots that gripped France in autumn 2005.

"Incidents like this reflect a real issue with the police in France," said Paul Bacot, political scientist at Lyon's Institut d'études politiques. "It joins the more serious riots of autumn 2005 and the demonstrations against police at a primary school last year. The police have lost their credibility and reputation. It's a real problem, and it's dangerous for everyone."

Last night's trouble erupted after a 32-year-old man who had not bought a metro ticket allegedly punched two police officers following a routine ticket check. Interior minister Francois Baroin told Europe 1 radio that the check had "got out of hand and transformed into guerrilla warfare, into unacceptable, intolerable violence".

The violence did not seem to be directly related to France's presidential election, taking place in less that a month, but highlighted the economic and social tensions that the next French president will have to face.

Some youths at the Gare du Nord station contradicted official reports of the incident, saying the riot started after officers manhandled a youth of north African origin.

Officers and police dogs charged at groups of youths who mingled with commuters and travellers. Youths threw litter bins, flower pots and other objects at officers and set fire to an information booth.

One woman was evacuated by paramedics for tear-gas inhalation. Groups of dazed tourists and commuters negotiated overturned garbage cans and downed potted plants, dragging their bags over the glass-strewn floors.

Youths broke windows of a sports-goods store, reaching through the shattered glass to grab boxes of shoes. Passers-by also joined in the looting.

A Paris city hall official said about 100 people were involved in the violence late last night. Hundreds of others milled around the station, watching the pandemonium.

Xavier Policand, who lives close to the station said: "There is a permanent tension between disadvantaged youths and the police, but this is the first time it's gone so badly in the centre of Paris since the riots a year and a half ago. There is a certain nervousness in Paris which is not going away."

A Eurostar press spokesman said there was no disruption to any services between London and Paris, either last night or today. "The disruption was in the subway section of the station and not near the Eurostar terminal," he said. "All out passenger should check in as normal."