The French Intifada

[FeatherFall]

This story from the Telegraph explains some recent difficulties French police have encountered while trying to uphold the law. Apparantly even Nicolas Sarkozy won't admit that this is an Islamic problem, instead shallowly blaming it on gangs and organized crime. Any wagers on how long it will take the French to either wake up or submit to dhimmitude completely?

[oldsalt]

The problem is stated this way:

Radical Muslims in France's housing estates are waging an undeclared "intifada" against the police, with violent clashes injuring an average of 14 officers each day.

As the interior ministry said that nearly 2,500 officers had been wounded this year, a police union declared that its members were "in a state of civil war" with Muslims in the most depressed "banlieue" estates which are heavily populated by unemployed youths of north African origin.

There is, however, a disagreement about the nature of their problem:

Senior officers insisted that the problem was essentially criminal in nature, with crime bosses on the estates fighting back against tough tactics. [....]

However, not all officers on the ground accept that essentially secular interpretation. Michel Thoomis, the secretary general of the hardline Action Police trade union, has written to Mr Sarkozy warning of an "intifada" on the estates and demanding that officers be given armoured cars in the most dangerous areas.

He said yesterday: "We are in a state of civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists. This is not a question of urban violence any more, it is an intifada, with stones and Molotov cocktails. You no longer see two or three youths confronting police, you see whole tower blocks emptying into the streets to set their 'comrades' free when they are arrested."

It is no surprise, of course, that they are having trouble distinguishing between mafia-type gang warfare and Islamist intafadas, since there is little to distinguish the two in method or motivation. The Islamist may claim religious motivation, and believe it, but they live by crime none-the-less than any gang.

The philosophy that has driven the EU's rhetoric concerning the mess in the Middle East, now drives their own discussion:

Mayors in the worst affected suburbs, which saw weeks of riots and car-burning a year ago, have expressed fears of a vicious circle, as attacks by locals lead the police to harden their tactics, further increasing resentment.

[Emphasis mine]

With that attitude, the violence won't end any sooner, or easier, than it has in Gaza and the West Bank. Of course, in Gaza the gangs have turned on each other. Surprise, surprise.

(I did what I could to bring what I wrote on this subject from the Airbus thread to its proper venue. I'll pay better attention from now on. )