Speed and the City: Le Rodeo Urbain‪.‬

The scene takes place not Jar from Rouen, in the suburb of Houssiere, on a Saturday. An evening performance, intended to promote harmony between various ethnic groups, is organized by young people and attracts 400 spectators. Late in the evening, a group of young toughs in stolen cars disrupt the performance by pursuing their own time-honoured performance -- the "rodeo." They careen about wildly, squealing their tires and over-revving their engines, gunning the cars into ever more dangerous spins. When police vans arrive at the scene, groups of youths shower them with stones. One driver tries to crash into a police car; then a Molotov cocktail is hurled against the side of one of the police vehicles. THE newspaper Paris-Normandie reports: "these incidents are the work of a very small minority of youths, often well known to police forces. Their actions harm the image of an entire neighbourhood, while numerous constructive initiatives have proven that many young people from this area have a very responsible attitude." In a press statement, the independent union of the national police denounces "the `wreckers' who did not hesitate to charge at the police in order to escape.... Once again, the police officials were subjected to all manner of insults and threats, even death threats! Once again, stones were thrown ... and this is the second time this year that a Molotov cocktail has been thrown at a police vehicle; fortunately it did not cause injury.... Once again, rioters held the police at a distance from a neighbourhood."