Rioters Shoot at Police, Set Cars on Fire in the French Town of Grenoble

Rioters in Grenoble fired at police, torched cars, and wielded stones and baseball bats, according to public officials in the city in southeast France.

“A group of people was waiting for us with stones and baseball bats in their hands,” Brigitte Jullien, head of public security, told France’s BFM TV today. “Shots were fired against us.” Jerome Safar, a deputy mayor in the city, told the television channel that rioters also set fire to cars.

Clashes started following a memorial service for 27-year- old Karim Boudouda, killed the day before in a shootout with police after allegedly robbing a casino near Grenoble, Le Figaro reported, citing unidentified police officials. As many as 60 cars were torched and two youths arrested, the daily said.

Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux will visit Grenoble today, the ministry said in an e-mailed statement. Police officials weren’t immediately available for comment in the city.

To contact the reporter on this story: Albertina Torsoli in Paris at atorsoli@bloomberg.net

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