France boosts security after riots

15 Aug 2012, 10:15 am   -   Source: AAP
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Angry residents confronted France's Interior Minister in Amiens, where riots left 16 police injured. (AAP)

Angry residents confronted France's Interior Minister in Amiens, where riots left 16 police injured. (AAP)

France's Interior Minister has been booed in the northern city of Amiens where riots left 16 police injured and buildings damaged.

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French Interior Minister Manuel Valls has been booed in the northern city of Amiens, hours after riots cast a shadow over President Francois Hollande's celebration of 100 days in power.

Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to quell the unrest that erupted late on Monday in Amiens' northern quarter and left 16 police officers injured, a primary school severely damaged by fire and a sports centre destroyed.

Speaking in the area where unemployment stands at 45 per cent, Valls said nothing could excuse attacks on police and the torching of public amenities.

"I have not come here to challenge a community, young people in general. I have come to say that here... law and justice must prevail," he said.

The clashes involving around 100 local youths and up to 150 police occurred in a deprived area of what is an otherwise prosperous city known for its university and 13th-century Gothic cathedral.

As well as tear gas and rubber bullets, police deployed a helicopter to stop the unrest after suffering injuries caused by buckshot, fireworks and other projectiles thrown by rioters.

The violence followed smaller-scale clashes 24 hours earlier which were triggered by the arrest of a man for dangerous driving.

The arrest was seen as insensitive as it came as many residents of the neighbourhood were attending a wake for a local 20-year-old who had died in a motorbike accident.

Gilles Demailly, the mayor of Amiens, told AFP the violent response to the incident reflected a descent into lawlessness orchestrated by ever younger troublemakers and put the damage at "millions of euros."

"There have been regular incidents here but it has been years since we've known a night as violent as this with so much damage done," the mayor said.

Hollande's government has identified the northern quarter of Amiens as one of 15 "priority security zones" across the country which will be established from September.

The emphasis will be on tougher policing rather than on schemes to alleviate the impact of record unemployment and falling real incomes for the poorest sections of society.

"Nothing, bar nothing, can excuse shooting at the police and law enforcement officials or the burning of public equipment," Valls said.

Figures released on Tuesday showed the French economy flat-lining in the second quarter of the year and most economists expect a further deterioration as Hollande's government cuts spending in most areas in order to reduce its budget deficit in line with eurozone requirements.

Trade unions battling job cuts across French industry have already warned of a "hot autumn" of protest unless the government eases up on the austerity drive.

But Hollande on Tuesday made it clear he regarded the unrest in Amiens as primarily a problem of criminality and promised a tough response.

"The state will mobilise all its means to combat these violent acts," Hollande said. "Security is not only a priority for us, it is an obligation."

Amiens usually has about 30 police officers on patrol at night but authorities said on Tuesday they need to boost numbers to about 250 to avoid a repeat of the violence.

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