French police officer describes youth attack

“It felt like they were out to kill us. We knew there were weapons in the suburbs, but never turned against us like that,” one of the police officers shot during youth riots near Paris told AFP Wednesday.

Sent to the suburb of Villiers le Bel to quell an outbreak of violence that followed the death of two teens in a crash with police, Francois, who asked not to be fully identified, found himself under siege.

“We were attacked from all sides” by youths armed with hunting rifles.”

“The kids were shooting at us at close range, loading and reloading their weapons. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was like in a movie. They were picking us off from 10 or 15 metres away.”

“I was hit in the hand with what I thought was a slingshot. I didn’t realise right away that it was buckshot, until I saw the hole in my trousers. I tried to protect my younger colleagues, then I fell to the ground.” [cont]

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 29, 2007 05:12 PM | Send