southchild

Here is a story out of France.

The gang of between 20 and 30 youths boarded the train, heading from Nice on the French Riviera to Lyon, in eastern France, early on Jan. 1, as it carried 600 passengers home from New Year’s Eve partying overnight.

Once inside, they went wild, forcing passengers to hand over mobile phones and wallets, and slashing seats and breaking windows.

A 20-year-old woman cornered by several of the marauders was sexually molested.

Given the mixture of youth and alcohol, this really isn’t a huge surprise. What is a surprise is the completely lackadaisical response of the French authorities.

The train resumed its journey with the heavy police presence on board but, just before Marseille, the youths pulled the emergency stop and many escaped.

Only three — two 19-year-old Moroccans and a minor, all living in France — were arrested. Both men were being held for robbery and one also was facing charges of sexual assault. The minor was to be judged separately.

Three others — a man and two boys — were arrested briefly in Marseille but were released despite reports they were carrying a knife, a screwdriver and a small amount of hashish.

How do you say Keystone Kops in French?

Here is an update. It is no accident that we haven’t heard about this sooner. Apparently, French officials wanted to keep this quiet. Don’t they learn anything from their mentor, China?

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 5th, 2006 at 9:39 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.