Rioters 'were out to kill us', says wounded French officer

Well, looks like Niko has his work cut out for him in Paris. The most recent set of Paris riots has bred a dangerous new challenge, "youths" with firepower. I've speculated before, wondering what kinds of weapons/explosives they've got hidden in those no-go zones for French police.

And lets make no mistake here! There are in all likelihood far worse than hunting rifles and handguns hidden in those ban lieus. Even though the media won't say it, I will. These are MUSLIM "youths." They have the backing of other Muslims including the oil rich states. These states have plenty of cash thanks to their oil profits and they have military's who are quite capable of getting far heavier firepower than what is currently being shown.

PARIS - "It felt like they were out to kill us. We knew there were weapons in the suburbs, but never turned against us like that," one of the police officers shot during youth riots near Paris told AFP Wednesday.

Sent to the suburb of Villiers le Bel to quell an outbreak of violence that followed the death of two teens in a crash with police, Francois, who asked not to be fully identified, found himself under siege.

"We were attacked from all sides" by youths armed with hunting rifles."

"The kids were shooting at us at close range, loading and reloading their weapons. I've never seen anything like it. It was like in a movie. They were picking us off from 10 or 15 metres away."

"I was hit in the hand with what I thought was a slingshot. I didn't realise right away that it was buckshot, until I saw the hole in my trousers. I tried to protect my younger colleagues, then I fell to the ground."

Police unions say the scale and intensity of the violence unleashed since Sunday is worse than the 2005 riots, also sparked by the deaths of two youths.

A line was crossed, they say, when suburb gangs turned guns on the police, 120 of whom were injured, several by gunwound. The hunting rifles used by the gangs are dangerous anywhere within a 300-metre (yard) range.

Bruno Beschizza of the Synergie-Officiers police union said he had told Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie of the fear sparked among the police rank and file by the recent flare-up.

"We told her that our colleagues, out in the field, were afraid. How would you not be when a guy pulls a gun out of his sleeve?" he told AFP.

"There were not enough of us to sustain that kind of a siege," Francois said. "I had run out of (rubber bullet) ammunition. We really got a fright. We felt they were out to kill us. We didn't know where we were any more."

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