Paris rioters get an edge with cell phones

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Wednesday November 09, 2005 12:30 by pat c

The French rioters certainly do not rely on pigeon post for communication. By using mobile phones and email they have managed wrong foot the French police.

"As violence continues to rage in the suburbs of Paris, tension runs high between the rioting immigrant youths and the French authorities. But while public opinion may be divided on whether resorting to violence will finally shed light on how the rioters believe they have been marginalized from mainstream French society for so long, one thing is for certain: Their number continues to grow in no small part due to their ability to band together via mobile phones and e-mail. What is more, in that war of information, the rioters have an edge over the French authorities.

Government officials have readily acknowledged the power of technology that has banded the disgruntled youths in such large numbers and with such anger. In fact, French police have publicly admitted that nightly broadcasts on television of vandalism by young Arab and Muslim men have only further fanned the flames of rage across the country and indeed beyond French borders. "