Besides Poland this past weekend (and, yes, I'm ignoring last night's unpleasantness for the moment), French 'youths' were out and about for the third weekend in a row, with lots of fiery car-b-queing and such activities on their schedules.

Their earlier experiments with running flaming dumpsters up against apartment buildings with stolen e-bikes thrown on the pyre in order to force explosions violent enough to incinerate residents on higher floors must have lost some of their luster after so many repetitions.

It starts to lose its cool factor, I guess, weekend after weekend.

And don't think it's just Paris. In Rouen, there was a fair and some 'youths' were out fascist hunting.

...Thirteen young men aged between 20 and 27 had gathered that Saturday evening at a friend’s home on the heights of Rouen to celebrate a birthday. The group, friends since their school days, scouting years, and university, shared a common background. One victim described them to the French publication as fairly typical: Catholic and from middle-class families. Their attire that night—dress shirts, beige chinos, leather shoes, and occasionally French-style caps—would prove costly.

Around 10:30 PM, the group took public transport toward the Saint-Romain fair held along the Seine riverbanks. After disembarking at the Mont-Riboudet stop, they walked toward the quays, singing Resucitó, a well-known hymn in Catholic and pilgrimage circles. In his formal complaint, one victim explicitly stated they were all of Catholic faith. Another mentioned they were singing drinking songs, while two acknowledged to investigators they were slightly intoxicated.

At approximately 11 PM, as the group passed between the Docks 76 shopping centre and its car park on Avenue du Mont-Riboudet, a voice rang out: “There are fascists here!” A gang of youths confronted them, most wearing black tracksuits, some with scarves pulled up over their heads. The complainants described their attackers as appearing North African or Maghrebi, aged roughly 16 to 18 or even younger. Estimates of the mob’s size varied from twenty to forty individuals, with one victim claiming he saw at least a hundred people converge.

The insults came rapidly. Martin, 24, reported in his complaint hearing: “Fascists, dirty whites, we’re going to fuck your mothers, we’re going to kill you.” According to his statement, one attacker shouted: “I’m 16 years old, I’m Muslim and we’re going to f**k your mothers.”

Hubert, one of the victims, told Valeurs Actuelles the attackers didn’t strike immediately. Instead, they shouted to rally as many people as possible before launching the assault. Another complainant stated the assailants accused the group of having attacked veiled women. Then projectiles began flying, followed by fists.

But during protests this weekend in Paris, the kiddies went back to old-school Molotov cocktail flinging, and they did a much better job of it than those two idiot New York law students with that NYPD car.

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It seems it's more fun to fling them and watch poor, beleaguered, and abused French police officers turn into human torches than wait around to see if a family burns to death in an apartment complex.

'Stupid youths,' as Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson loves to call them. Sometimes they're just incorrigible and then their enthusiasm gets out of control, huh?

And once one flaming projectile exploded perfectly, well, everyone wanted in on playing police-kebabs.

Or it had been more fun. 

It seems the police and some worthy prosecutors have had enough of the high-spirited hijinks crowd and the third-degree burns their officers are incurring trying to keep these ferals from burning their city down.

They are actually going to try to find who's flinging petrol bombs and charge them with 'attempted murder.'

Oh, go get 'em.

France launches attempted murder investigation after petrol bomb thrown at police

Prosecutors in France have launched an attempted murder investigation after petrol bombs were thrown at police during unrest, French media reported.

An image of a police officer with his leg on fire during a clash with protesters in Paris on Saturday has prompted outrage and follows weeks of street protests in France that have also seen demonstrators injured.

The officer, who suffered burns to his ankle and minor injures to his hand, told French newspaper Le Figaro it was a "particularly sophisticated" incendiary device.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said throwing a molotov cocktail at a police line was "what I call a murder attempt", adding officers were working to find the perpetrators.

Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across France in largely peaceful protests on Saturday, the latest in a series of youth-led protests that began in late September demanding action on the high cost of living and poor public services, especially schools.

On Saturday alone, cops arrested some 770 miscreants. I mean, there is no lack of thugs on the streets who have nothing but anarchy on their minds and evil intent.

...Speaking to French newspaper Le Figaro, he said police were yet to identify the liquid used but that the incendiary device "had a far greater burning capacity than a standard Molotov cocktail".

"We faced hostile individuals who are not protesters," he said. "These adversaries are there with the intent to harm those who represent the state."

Fourteen other officers sustained wounds ranging from minor to serious, he said, adding some were struck by paving stones. The unit was supposed to be on leave but had been urgently recalled to police the weekend protests, he said.

Naturally, the spokespeople for these same protesters are whining that protesters got owies from police 'grenades.'

Aw.

CALL A WAAHMBULANCE

...French protest organisers, the Gilets Jaunes, or Yellow Vests, have said dozens of protesters have been seriously injured during recent demonstrations across the country, with many hurt by "grenades".

France suspended the use of one type of stun grenade while policing student protests in early October after a 15-year-old's hand was blown off, but French newspaper Le Monde has reported that police have continued to use a different model in subsequent protests.

If you're not out there tearing things up, you don't get bruised.

ZOMG - I think I figured it out, huh?

Bruises and grenades don't seem to be making enough of an impression to stop anyone from pouring into the streets for a good rumble, and it looks like these forces are fixin' to expand beyond just a weekend activity.

According to this fellow on X, who is apparently well acquainted with Paris after years of living and visiting the city, he's never seen anything like what he witnessed on his walk about this *checks notes* Wednesday morning. He says there's a huge buildup of riot police - you can see the heavy presence of vans and some officers in many of his shots behind him.

Mid-week? What on earth do they think is going down...or would one even want to know?

Just in the nick of time, the French Senate has passed a bill they've dubbed 'Rioters Pay.'

Oh, gosh - that should help.

France’s Senate has passed a bill that would hold rioters financially accountable for damages, as the country grapples with public unrest.

Under the so-called “Rioters Pay” bill, protesters could be ordered to pay up to 10,000 euros ($11,140) “for the compensation of damages resulting from crimes and offenses committed by force or violence.” Welfare payments could also be seized to cover costs.

France’s government is grappling with nationwide violent protests while trying to slash bloated state spending. The protests, which began as a student movement, have broadened into wider public unrest, with demonstrators’ demands ranging from greater investment in education to help with the cost of living.

The unrest hit boiling point earlier this month, when protests descended into rioting, looting and violent clashes with police. Further demonstrations are expected this weekend.

On Oct. 21, French Economy Minister Roland Lescure said in an interview that the violence and unrest had caused “tens or perhaps hundreds of millions” of euros worth of damage.

They'll even seize welfare payments - how about that?

How about you kick them off welfare and out of the country?

I know, I know - DON'T TALK CRAZY TALK!

And what if you were just an innocent bystander with a brick in your hand?

...The proposals have drawn criticism from rights groups. Nathalie Godard, director of the action department at Amnesty International France, said in a statement that the bill “threatens to further deter people from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

“Holding protesters responsible – and making them pay – for acts committed by others creates a risk of arbitrary punishment and would be contrary to France’s international obligations,” she said.

Speaking in the Senate this week, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez – one of the three ministers who submitted the bill – urged lawmakers to back the proposals, saying: “We can no longer allow the majority of our citizens to pay for a minority of rioters.”

The other problem with this basically useless gesture is the French court system. 

Many of them,the majority of whom were not- SURPRISE! - youthful offenders at all...

...The majority were young men. In Paris, 68% of those taken into custody were adults, according to the public prosecutor’s office, not high-school teenagers.

...were either released, sentenced to probation, or just fined.

...“She’s only just 18 and barely out of childhood. She can hardly express herself. Awa stole and I am not excusing that, but she stole because she needs money,” she said.

“This immediate court appearance is complicated and we need to reflect on what we are doing,” Bouchareb said. “These people have lost their bearings, they are afraid. The response to the outbreak of anger should be political not legal. Politicians are responsible for an economic situation in which some don’t have money to buy food or clothing, like my client.”

In a courtroom of lawyers, judges, prosecutors and press hardened to melodrama and often tall tales of woe, Awa’s story touched a nerve.

The lawyer representing Yves Saint Laurent said he would not seek to “aggravate the situation” but pointed out two of the company’s stores had been looted and hundreds of bags taken. The prosecutor agreed it was “a sad situation” and he would not seek a custodial sentence.

Awa was given a 12-month suspended sentence, ordered to pay a fine and damages, and perform 140 hours of community service.

French judges actually belong to a liberal judges' union.

I can't see them making anyone pay for damages.

They should have insurance for that, right?