Paris youths riot after police kill Gap robber

Sixty youths armed with pick-handles attacked a police station in the western Paris suburb of Chanteloup-les-Vignes on Saturday night.

The youths, who also steered a blazing car into the courtyard of the building, were protesting against the killing of a man from Chanteloup by police during a robbery in Paris last week.

Firemen who were called to put out the blazing car were pelted with stones by the multiracial gang of attackers. Eventually, police reinforcements arrived and three youths were arrested.

This was the first serious incident in the Paris suburbs since the three weeks of rioting which spread through poor suburbs of French towns and cities last November.

Police believe that the incident was an isolated one and is unlikely to rekindle last year's riots. The attackers were protesting against the death of the 24-year-old Chanteloup man, who was shot dead by police while robbing a Gap shop in the ninth arrondissement of Paris last Thursday.