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1) France
Youths have been rioting for three consecutive days in the town of St-Etienne after an Arab man of 21 died in police custody.
The police say the man committed suicide; the coroner has found no evidence that he was treated violently prior to his death. Although the man's family don't believe the official line, they have urged calm.
On the first night alone over 44 vehicles were burned, but as yet no one has been hurt, although last night shops in the town centre were attacked and some torched.
The Times has an English language report (with some factual inaccuracies):
Police are bracing for violence in the southeastern French town of Firminy tonight after the death in custody of a 21-year-old Arab man sparked two nights of arson and car-burning.
The family of Mohamed Benmouna joined the authorities in calling for calm as youths from immigrant housing estates vented their disbelief of the official report that he had committed suicide.
The scene at Firminy, near the city of St Etienne, was calmer today after a post-mortem examination found that Mr Benmouna, who had been arrested on extortion charges, had hanged himself from the plasterboard wall of the cell and that there was no trace of other violence.
On Tuesday night, when Benmouna was in a coma, youths set fire to a community centre and a dozen cars. After he died on yesterday, they burnt another eight cars.
2) Britain
A top surgeon has been warned after violent incidents:
A TOP Tameside surgeon has been warned against using violent behaviour by health watchdogs.
Dr Kamran Haider Siddiqui, a lead clinician in Tameside General Hospital’s endoscopy department, received the ticking off from the General Medical Council.
A spokesman from the GMC confirmed that Mr Siddiqui had been warned but would not comment further.
Listed on the GMC’s official website, the warning states: "He must not use or threaten violence in his private or professional life. He must refrain from criminal activity which risks bringing the profession into disrepute. However, should he accept a caution or be charged with or found guilty of a criminal offence, he must inform the GMC without delay. "
It is not clear if Dr Siddiqui was charged with any offence or whether he appeared in court, but the warning will stay on his record from January 2008 until 7 January 2013.
It is understood to relate to an incident in his private life.
Susan McGahey, spokeswoman for the Tameside Hospital Action Group, (THAG) which represents patients and their families, said she was worried by the news.
She said: "I’m concerned that a member of the team has this complaint against him. Whether or not it affects his judgement or not is another thing. The hospital should be more open about staff misdemeanours."
In a statement, the Tameside NHS Foundation Trust defended Mr Siddiqui.
Dr Tariq Mahmood, medical director at the trust, said: "The Trust is aware that an incident occurred, but this was not related in any way to his work at Tameside Hospital.
"As such, we do not have any details about the incident and cannot offer any further comment, other than to say that Mr Siddiqui is a well-respected and extremely competent surgeon, who is, quite rightly, held in extremely high regard by his colleagues and his patients. Mr Siddiqui enjoys the full confidence of Tameside Hospital."
Mr Siddiqui, who qualified at the University of Punjab in Pakistan, is one of Greater Manchester’s leading surgeons. He recently performed a groundbreaking new surgical technique relating to keyhole surgery called laporoscopic large bowel resection.
3) Portugal
Two police officers were shot last weekend in a notorious neighbourhood of African immigrants which is apparently a no-go area for Portuguese.
With thanks to Afonso Henriques via Gates of Vienna:
The oldest police officer was 25 years old, the other 23 and one of them will most likely lose an eye — and thus, most likely, the job as well. It really, really seems to be an ambush.
This is the gravest of all the episodes, and happened last Sunday, the 5th of July. I really think this one deserves special attention. It was actually so severe that all the National TV channels opened their prime time news with it. There’s little to comment about it. All broadcasts indicated that the perpetrators were Africans, and Africans are the majority of the inhabitants in the area in question, a no-go zone.
| lara de Souza: | Good evening. Two police officers were shot today in Amadora after being called to an incident in the neighborhood of Santa Filomena. The shooters are at large. Elements of the security forces make searches in the houses of the neighborhood, in an attempt to find the two shooters of the shotgun blasts that injured two police officers, one in the chest, another in the neck. A few minutes after 3 pm elements of the PSP (Public Security Police) were called to an incident in the neighborhood Casal das Brancas in Amadora. When they made contact with the assailants, the police officers were greeted with shots. Minutes later came reinforcements, minutes after that came the ambulances that drove the injured officers to the hospital. The neighborhood was immediately sealed off by the police. Then, police officers saw individuals with masks who fired shotguns yet again before running away. Both the neighborhoods of Casal das Brancas and the contiguous Santa Filomena are now being patrolled by the police. The frightened inhabitants came into the streets saying that in the last months it’s even harder to live here due to the rise of violence. But to the video cameras, only silence, because the fear of reprisals is real. The police patrols in the neighborhood, Carla, are still going at this time? | |
| Carla, the reporter: | Patrolling is still going at this time and in force. Now the Judiciary Police (PJ) just arrived, Clara. We can see them up there close to the police car that was targeted during the afternoon by the shooters. Two police officers were injured, two police officers who were near here were then called by the PSP station of Amadora to come to this place. The police station received a call around the 3 pm reporting that a robbery was about to take place, an attempt at robbing a goldsmith in this area, and the two officers came to the place. Surprised by the shooters, they were confronted with shotguns. José Mendes from the Association of Police Unions (ASP), how are the injured officers? One of them is in a worse condition? | |
| José Mendes from the ASP: | Yes, the indication I have at this moment is that one of the officers is worse than the other. I hope they can recover as fast as possible, and that situations like this one do not happen again, really. Because… please say… | |
| Carla: | Just to end this reasoning, one of the officers is in danger of losing an eye. | |
| José Mendes : | I also have that indication, unfortunately one of the officers may effectively lose one of his eyes. Possibly. It does not mean that this is effectively true. I hope it will not happen. | |
| Carla: | I know you can’t give us much in the way of details because this is under judicial secrecy, but do you have any indication of how the robbery took place, how the police officers were surprised? | |
| José Mendes : | No, my lady… | |
| Carla: | How were they shot? | |
| José Mendes : | I cannot give you those indications. First because I don’t have them and even if I had them I would not divulge them. It is a case that is under judicial secrecy and we respect it, me more than all the others… | |
| Carla: | Is this a problematic neighborhood [no-go-zone]? | |
| José Mendes: | It is one of the problematic neighborhoods. Unfortunately, the government is not listening to what the Association of Police Unions (ASP) has alerted them to, so that, in reality, the agents of authority or the crimes committed against the agents of authority are not punished, nor the criminals are not punished in reality as a consequence of what they’ve been doing. |
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