Tensions rise in France
Paris - A band of up to 30 youths forced passengers out of a bus in a southern Paris suburb in broad daylight on Sunday, set it afire then stoned firefighters who came to the rescue, a police official said.
Police cordoned off the neighbourhood in Grigny after the bus attack, which comes five days before France marks the one-year anniversary of the start of three weeks of fiery riots by poor suburban youths.
District police chief Jean-Francois Papineau called Sunday's bus attack "deliberate".
He said the vehicle was forced to stop at a road block at about 14:00. Two youths then entered the back of the bus to clear out passengers before dousing it with fuel and setting it ablaze.
Fire spread to cars
The blaze, which left the bus a tangled carcass of metal, spread to four parked cars, Papineau told LCI television.
When firefighters arrived, the youths began stoning them, he said. No one was injured.
Meanwhile, France's minister for social cohesion, Jean-Louis Borloo, called on citizens to act responsibly because "tensions are raw just as we're in the process of resolving the difficulties".
The daylight bus-burning evoked memories of the riots. It followed nearly a half-dozen incidents in recent weeks in which suburban youths have attacked police - in some cases in planned ambushes.
News source: www.news24.co.za
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