Paris: Police, taxi drivers, clash at airport

Paris: Police, taxi drivers, clash at airport

Meanwhile, minister of the Interior Brice Hortefeux announced a new 'conciliation team', to help ease tensions with the suburban immigrant youth.


The response team, to be created in September, will bring together a government official, a psychologist and "independent" observers when incidents appear set to inflame tensions between youths and police, Hortefeux said.


Its goal will be to "defuse situations that are susceptible to flare up," he said. Other ministry panels will try to improve relations between police and youths in troubled areas on a regular basis.


---------------


Police clashed with taxi drivers at the main Paris airport late on Monday and fired rubber flash balls to try to restore order when a routine incident turned violent, French officials said.


The confrontation closed access to terminal 3 at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport for several hours.


"Things got out of hand. Projectiles were thrown at the police, who struck back," Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux told Europe 1 radio.


RTL radio said the fight started when police stopped a taxi driver accused of failing to pay the rent on his vehicle. Other drivers intervened, complaining of harassment.


"The police stop us from smoking, from playing cards and from praying," driver Tarek Moktad told the radio station.


(more)


Source: Reuters (English)