Armed Islamists Reportedly Among Rioters in France

Among the violent rioters who have burned and looted businesses in France’s growing unrest are people carrying automatic submachine guns according to one French news outlet.The guns have been found in the hands of minors and adults close to the Islamist movement, Le Journal du Dimanche journalist Laura Tchekov reported. Ms. Tchekov, who cited France’s main internal security agency, for the information, said not every armed protester was arrested and some of them remained on the loose.Public buildings and stores in many cities were targeted across France over the weekend. More than two thousand businesses were damaged or robbed over the weekend.Marseille, the second most populous city in France, saw considerable damage with more than 600 shops looted. Authorities implemented an emergency ban Monday on public gatherings in the city.The mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, says the cause of the riots will not be resolved until there is a response to the political crisis embroiling the country.Speaking at the city hall on Monday afternoon, Mr. Grégoire said Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu should begin negotiations with education sector organizations as a first step.Mr. Lecornu, on Monday, declined to declare a state of emergency but announced that some French cities will be given the power to implement partial curfews in order to quell the violence.France’s interior ministry said about 1,000 police officers were injured in the violence. Seven of the injuries were serious. “Despite scenes of severe violence and extensive property damage, no one was killed,” Mr. Lecornu said after an emergency meeting on the protests.One media outlet faced criticism for downplaying the violence. “They were mostly peaceful, but as we saw in the capital, in the wings were those who wanted to take advantage of the disorder,” the BBC’s Paris correspondent, James Waterhouse, said on-air while video of masked mobs setting fires and clashing with police aired. Online commentators mocked the “mostly peaceful” reaction.The Chambers of Commerce and Industry, an industry group that represents businesses, said shopkeepers and their employees are seeing their livelihoods destroyed in the riots.“Our shopkeepers are there every day to keep our towns and cities alive, and they are the ones the vandals targeted. This is unacceptable,” the group’s president, Alain Di Crescenzo, said in a statement.Online reseller platforms are being warned that listings for looted goods should be pulled down. “Such behaviors will not go unpunished,” digital affairs minister Anne Le Henanff said on X. “We will not let them slide.” Many of the rioters have carried Palestinian flags or signs denouncing Jews. One journalist claimed that in Marseille, Jewish businesses were targeted by rioters while those run by Muslims were spared. In Paris, a synagogue was ransacked. The group Combat Antisemitism Movement, however, said it was unclear if the break-in was connected to the riots. Items “Nothing indicates that this was an antisemitic attack,” the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France executive director, Robert Ejnes, said in a statement.“It may have been a robbery,” Mr. Ejnes added. “We remain in high alert, working with police and the authorities.”Several countries including Italy and Germany have warned their citizens about the violence in France and warned them to avoid large crowds. Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs were advised to consider postponing non-essential trips to Paris.

Armed Islamists Reportedly Among Rioters in France

Armed Islamists Reportedly Among Rioters in France

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