VERSAILLES, France: French police fought running battles Saturday night in a poor suburb northwest of Paris with groups of young men who burnt a circus school and wounded two officers, the authorities said Sunday.
In the foray, the troublemakers burnt a circus tent, which its operator said had cost about €800,000 and where children from deprived backgrounds were being trained in the circus arts.Interior Minister Christophe Castaner described the acts on Twitter as"cowardly and foolish", and said he was confident the police would identify and catch those who got away.
A police source said the violence had been sparked by the planned demolition of an apartment building which"threatens the underground economy" run by criminal gangs in the neighbourhood.In April last year, a nursery school in the Noe neighbourhood was set ablaze, prompting local authorities to raise concerns about the plight of Paris' needier suburbs.