Two weeks of French riots in facts and figures

PARIS, Nov 10 (AFP) – Two weeks after urban rioting broke out in France, sparked by anger in Paris’s poor outer suburbs over the accidental deaths of two teenagers, here are the key facts and figures about the violence.

Hotspots: Some 300 districts affected at the height of the riots, particularly the outer Parisian suburbs of Clichy-sous-Bois, Aulnay-sur-Bois, Saint-Denis and Grigny.

Regional cities hardest hit include Evreux, west of Paris, Lille in the north, central Saint-Etienne and Toulouse in the southwest.

Other outbreaks have occurred in Nice, Marseille, Nimes, Montpellier, Perpignan and Pau in the south; Bordeaux, Nantes and Rennes in the west; Clermont-Ferrand, Tours and Lyon in central France; Rouen and Le Havre in Normandy; and Strasbourg to the east.

Some 11,500 police and gendarmes have been mobilised throughout the country. Seven helicopters deployed in the Ile-de-France region encompassing Paris.

Victims: Retiree Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, 61, died Monday three days after being punched near his apartment building in Seine-Saint-Denis.

More than 115 residents, police and fire fighters injured. A firefighter sustained serious facial burns from a Molotov cocktail and a handicapped woman was badly burnt when youths set fire to a bus.

A rioter lost a hand attempting to throw a tear-gas canister back at riot police.

A female reporter with a South Korean television crew was kicked unconscious, and Italian and Russian journalists were attacked while reporting on the violence.

Curfews: Emergency curfews came into force Wednesday night in 32 towns and cities, including Nice on the French Riviera, Amiens in the north, Rouen, Le Havre and Evreux in the northwest and the Loire Valley city of Orleans.

The outer Parisian suburbs of Le Raincy and Savigny-sur-Orge on Tuesday invoked municipal curfews banning children under 16 from the streets late at night unless accompanied by adults.

Up in Smoke: More than 6,600 vehicles torched and dozens of buses, schools, gymnasiums, nurseries, libraries, shops and businesses destroyed in arson attacks.

Insurance Bill: Damages bill estimated to run into hundreds of millions of euros (dollars). Insurers say the average payout for a car is 3,000 euros (3,500 dollars) but not all will qualify for compensation.

Arrests: Police have made 1,800 arrests, the youngest aged 10. One third have been released without charge and courts have handed down jail terms to 173 offenders.

Six people aged 17 to 22 were arrested Wednesday as part of an investigation into shots fired Sunday at police in Grigny, on Paris’s southern outskirts.

Subject: French news