Riot: I'm fascinated by the happenings in France (and elsewhere in Europe), watching it grow from just a headache to the French to a pan-European iconic moment-in-the-making. Could be that we'll see these images years from now and say, yes, that's where it all started. (But it didn't, of course. It started years and years ago, when France began an immigration policy that brought in "colonials" to work the shit jobs.)

Anyhow, it was frightening to see the figures this morning: 1400 cars burned overnight, and 10 gendarmes injured exchanging gunfire with the disaffected.

It was the first time police had been injured by weapons' fire and there were signs that rioters were deliberately seeking out clashes with police, officials said.

Among the injured police, 10 were hurt by youths firing fine-grain birdshot in a late-night clash in the southern Paris suburb of Grigny, national police spokesman Patrick Hamon said. Two were hospitalized, but their lives were not considered in danger. One was wounded in the neck, the other in the legs.

Tim Blair notes the spread of violence and continues to wonder what these rioters have against cars. Perhaps they all just recently read this book.