Riots in the Val-d'Oise department in France began on 26 November 2007, following the deaths of two teenagers (Moushin S., 15, and Larami S., 16),[1][2] whose motorcycle collided with a police vehicle.
[3] The circumstances recalled those that precipitated the 2005 unrest, which began in Clichy-sous-Bois when two teenagers lost their lives as they evaded arrest while hiding in an electrical substation.
[4] The police deny this, saying that the motorcycle was stolen[5][6] and was an unregistered vehicle not valid for street use, travelling at high speed, and that the youths were not wearing any protective headgear - an account, according to French newspaper reports, confirmed by two eyewitnesses.
Divisional Commissioner Jean-François Illy, in charge of Sarcelles area, had his car burned and was hit with iron bars as he was trying to defuse the situation, and was hospitalised with a fractured nose and ribs.
One officer received a serious shoulder wound when a firearm projectile pierced his body armour and another lost an eye.