Sarkozy gets a taste of his own medicine posted by bat020

Sometimes I can't help but love the Daily Telegraph:

Nicolas Sarkozy's image as the tough French interior minister facing down the rioters suffered a blow when he was forced to shelter from angry youths in central Paris.

Mr Sarkozy came under a vicious verbal assault from youngsters on Saturday night. The former protégé of President Jacques Chirac was forced to listen to chants of "Sarkozy resign!", "Liberté, egalité, fraternité – but not in council estates", and several insults directed at his mother.

The spin on the Telegraph story is so blatant that it reeks of desperation. The headline describes the crowd confronting Sarkozy as a "mob", and we're regaled with metaphors hinting at brimming Hobbesian violence – "suffered a blow", "vicious verbal assault" etc.

We also hear how national police chief Michel Gaudin has hailed a "major lull" in the unrest. Apparently only 374 cars were burned nationwide on Saturday night – "down from 502 the night before". Phew! Well that's alright then.

Incidentally, on a "normal" night some 90 cars get torched around France's banlieues, according to Le Monde. This underlines the point that this wave of rioting represents an intensification of something that's been going on unreported for a long while.

The Torygraph report signs off on this delightfully Gallic note:

In the northern Paris suburb of La Courneuve, a police officer was hurt after he was hit with a pétanque ball dropped from a high building.

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Meanwhile, France's international footballers have also put the boot into Sarkozy:

"I grew up in the suburbs and I feel very close to these youths," said Lilian Thuram. "Nobody is trying to look at the real problems. They are trying to convince the public that these people are nothing but rioters, which is not the truth."

Lyons player Eric Abidal said: "When I was growing up, there was a supermarket but the guys there refused to hire people from our neighbourhood. I can understand that people are fed up to see things like that."

Unfortunately Thierry Henry declined to comment on the riots, thus frustrating a legion of tabloid subeditors itching to use VA-VA-BOOM! as a headline.

And on that note – there is no truth to the rumour that the latest Clio advert features a foxy French lady declaring "Clichy-sous-Bois!" to camera followed by a smug English bloke responding "Brixton..."

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Finally – Gary Younge is on the ball in today's Guardian.