Zero tolerance for Århus rioters

Danish police is cracking down on the rioters who ravaged a suburb of Århus over the weekend. From DR:

Police in Århus have announced a zero tolerance policy over for the troublemakers who have been rampaging through a suburb of Århus during the weekend.The area of Viby, just outside central Århus has witnessed a spate of riots all weekend with shop windows being smashed, a kindergarten burnt out and general violence occurring between mainly young people with immigrant backgrounds and the police. The zero tolerance hard-line has met criticism from an expert in youth research. Susasne Branner Jespersen said that a zero tolerance stance only increases the hatred between the youths and police. The Mayor of Århus Louise Gade dismissed the concerns of experts and said that a hard-line must be taken with these troublemakers so ordinary law-abiding citizens could feel safe in their homes.

While the riot has been quelled in Denmark (in all fairness, the problem is also vastly smaller here), the 3rd Intifada is progressing in Paris, France as moslem gang wars do (from the BBC):

Rioting youths opened fire on police and set dozens of vehicles ablaze in a seventh night of violence in Paris.

In escalating scenes of unrest, four shots were fired while gangs besieged a police station, set fire to a car showroom and threw petrol bombs.

At least 15 people were arrested and nine injured across north-east Paris. ..

Wednesday night's violence erupted in 10 areas across the Paris department of Seine-Saint-Denis, home to largely poor north African communities.

Two live rounds were fired in the town of La Corneueve, and fire fighters in Saint Denis and Noisy-le-Sec were also shot at, a senior local official said.

Two primary schools, a post office and a shopping centre were damaged and a large car showroom set ablaze in the flashpoint town of Aulnay-sous-Bois. ..

There was violence in another northern area, Le Blanc Mesnil, where a French TV truck was overturned and burned.

Other violence flared in the western region of Hauts-de-Seine. A police station there was bombarded with Molotov cocktails, AFP news agency reports.

The reason for the trouble in France is, that PM Sarkozy has ordered riot police into the suburbs to restore control over areas, that have essentially slipped out of control over the last two decades. From the International Herald Tribune, citing an interview with Sarkozy that took place 2 days before the current riots:

Since the start of the year, 9,000 police cars have been stoned and, each night, 20 to 40 cars are torched, Sarkozy said in an interview last week with the newspaper Le Monde.

Things havent quite gotten as bad in Denmark. Even in the city I live in (Odense, pop. 200.000) we have had trouble with muslim gangs in the ghetto Vollsmose, though, with immigrants torching garbage bins, stoning cars and destroying the local police station (only manned part-time back then). For a long time, fire engines and ambulances had to be escorted into the ghetto, and cab drivers refused to go there, until they had video cameras installed in their cabs.

Henrik