Four Chinese injured in French violence
By Guo Nei (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-07 05:30

Four young Chinese women were injured and six warehouses owned by Chinese were burnt down in French unrest that has continued unabated for 10 days.

The four, one from Beijing and the others from Taiwan, suffered burns and injuries in a blaze at University of Franche-Comte in the east of France last Thursday, China News Service reported.

A Chinese businessman appears distressed on Saturday in Paris after six warehouses owned by Chinese were burnt during unrest in the French capital that has continued for 10 days. [Xinhua]

One woman from Taiwan had burns on 80 per cent of her body while another had broken bones after jumping from the third floor to escape the fire.

Sources at a local hospital said that injuries to the Beijing woman, aged about 20, "were not very serious."

The fire left one person dead and 15 injured.

Local police confirmed the fire as arson but said: "It's not clear whether it is linked to the current unrest," which has reached central Paris from the suburbs.

Xinhua reported that the violence led to huge losses for Chinese businesses in France. Since Friday, six warehouses owned by Chinese have been razed.

Counsellor Yu Chengtao at the Chinese Embassy in Paris has been in talks with French police, seeking safety and protection for Chinese citizens and their property.

Ten nights of urban unrest have seen thousands of arson attacks on cars, nursery schools and others.

On Saturday night, gangs of youths torched 1,300 vehicles in Paris' poor suburbs and major French towns, despite the deployment of thousands of extra police. Cars were burned out in the historic centre of Paris for the first time the same night.

Some 2,300 police poured into the Paris region to bolster security while firefighters moved out around the city to douse blazing vehicles.

The deaths 10 days ago of two youths apparently fleeing police ignited pent up frustrations among young men, many of them Muslims of North and black African origin, at racism, unemployment, their marginal place in French society and their treatment by the police.

(China Daily 11/07/2005 page1)