Update 10:33pm Eastern. Latest description of the current situation on the ground…“Fragile calm”…guess the “youths” need a nap.

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Flambée de violence

The poor, harmless misguided youth of unnamed ethnic origin in France are now peacefully demonstrating against oppression by…shooting at cops with hunting weapons. Scores of them. Some 80 police officers have been injured:

Rampaging youths rioted for a second night in Paris’ suburbs, firing at officers and ramming burning cars into buildings. At least 80 officers were injured, a senior police union official said Tuesday.

The overnight violence was more intense than during the three weeks of rioting in 2005, said the official, Patrice Ribeiro. He said “genuine urban guerrillas with conventional weapons and hunting weapons” were among the rioters.

On Monday night, youths were seen firing buckshot at police and reporters. About 30 of 82 injured officers were hit by buckshot, Ribeiro told The Associated Press. Rioters also hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at police, authorities said.

Police made six arrests, authorities said.

Wait a minute. Looks like the “youths” get a more detailed description. The wire editor must have forgotten to delete:

Youths, many of them Arab and black children of immigrants, again appeared to be lashing out at police and other targets seen to represent a French establishment they feel has left them behind.

“Police officers were targeted with hunting weapons; a certain number of them were wounded by lead shot,” said Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie. “This is totally unacceptable,” she said, adding there were six serious injuries, “people who notably were struck in the face and close to the eyes.”

The use of firearms added a dangerous new dimension to the rioting. Firearms are widespread in France, and police generally carry guns. Such weapons, though, were rarely used in the 2005 riots that spread to poor housing projects nationwide.

Here’s some video fresh from the battlefield. You don’t need to understand French to understand what’s going on:

Paris is preparing for more tonight:

Police were bracing for a third round of violence tonight. As the sun went down today in the town, a working- and lower-class suburb, an estimated 200 people marched silently through the main street past shops, bars and a housing project.

There were people of all ages, including some carrying babies. There was also a large contingent of youths, ranging in age from 10 years old to their early 20s. Some of these were carrying images of the two slain youths, and many of them blamed the police for their deaths. They vowed to continue their violent protest.

At around 5 p.m., rows of riot police vans moved into the town in preparation for what police said would be further violence tonight, and a police helicopter circled above the town near the site of Sunday’s collision. There were many people on the streets; other groups of local people were coming home from work and gathered on street corners.

Among the marchers, a young man who identified himself as Cem, 18, but who refused to give his full name, said: “This is war. There is no mercy. We want at least two policemen dead.”

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More coverage:

Gateway Pundit, Nidra Poller/PJM, Hot Air, Memeorandum.

Lawhawk notes: “Since the riots started two days ago, 120+ police officers have been injured, four of them seriously after being hit by buckshot from hunting weapons, according to police figures. In three weeks of rioting in 2005, 200 officers were injured. Many of those injured over the past two days have been hit by gunfire.”

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