A French police officer holding a 40-millimeter rubber defensive bullet launcher LBD (LBD40) walks in a street during clashes in Villeneuve-la-Garenne, in the northern suburbs of Paris, France, on April 20, 2020. (Photo by AFP)
Police and youths clashed for a second night in a Paris suburb on Sunday as strict lockdown rules to curb the spread of the new coronavirus threaten a fragile social peace in deprived areas.
The trouble in Villeneuve-La-Garenne, north of Paris, first flared late Saturday after a motorcyclist collided with the open door of an unmarked police car during a pursuit. The skirmishes lasted into the early hours of Sunday before calm was restored.
Less than 24 hours later, unrest broke out again. Fireworks were aimed at police and several cars were torched, a police official said, as several dozen youths taunted officers. Police fired tear gas to disperse the troublemakers.
Mediators have been sent into the neighborhood to soothe tensions, police said, and an internal police inquiry is underway.
Frances banlieues - neighborhoods of high-rises that ring many of its cities - have long been flashpoints of anger over social and economic grievances. In 2005, unrest lasted three weeks after two youths died fleeing police in a northern Paris suburb.
The capitals poor, ethnically diverse outskirts appear to have been hit harder by the coronavirus outbreak than the more affluent central Paris, official data showing COVID-19-related deaths indicates.
(Source: Reuters)
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