Youth gang battles police in French suburb

AFP reports:

Around 100 youths armed with sticks and baseball bats clashed with police in a Paris suburb, in the worst such violence since the riots of last November, police said.


The violence broke out in the town of Montfermeil east of Paris with trouble also erupting in nearby Clichy-sous-Bois -- the epicentre of last year's riots.

Clashes erupted Monday night when a gang attacked the mayor's home in Montfermeil, shaking its gates and hurling stones at the windows before facing off with police who responded with rubber bullets.

Youths also targeted the town hall, shattering its glass facade with stones and throwing Molotov cocktails which failed to ignite, and set fire to four cars and a large number of garbage bins.

The French welfare state continues to crack.