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The Muslim uprising in France worsened over the weekend. During last night’s rampages, French police units came under sustained attack by gangs of Muslim youths.

The two police officers shot on Sunday night were hit during what police described as an "ambush" in the Paris suburb of Grigny.

They were taken to hospital with wounds to the leg and throat.

Police chiefs said their men were being deliberately confronted by gangs apparently intent on fighting them.

The last twenty-four hours have brought more calamity:

At least 1,400 vehicles have been burnt out and 395 people arrested in France's latest rioting, while the unrest has apparently claimed its first fatality.

Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, 61, who fell into a coma after being beaten by a hooded man last week, has died.

The Paris government has finally instituted a curfew for tonight – incredibly, the first attempt at a curfew in eleven days of violence. Given the toothless response of city and national government thus far, the rioters are not apt to be impressed by the curfew order. Police in Paris are increasingly frightened.

Local police commander Bernard Franio said: "This is real, serious violence - not like the previous nights. I'm very worried because this is mounting."

The trade union Action Police CFTC called for night-time curfews and army help to stop the spreading "civil war".

In the southern city of Toulouse, police fired tear gas grenades to push back rioters.

Violence was also reported in Marseille, Saint-Etienne and Lille.

Of the 1,408 vehicles burnt, 982 were attacked outside the Paris region as the "shock wave" from the capital reached the provinces, in the words of national police chief Michel Gaudin.

This is being permitted in the capital of France -- the country aspired to become a counterweight to the US in world affairs. It would be comical if it wasn’t so pathetic. The sad truth is that the Chirac government is both unwilling and unable to end this crisis. Unwilling because the harsh measures required would spell the official death of the multiculturalist fantasy that has been the public policy of France (and most EU nations for 30 years); unable because the French resolve to defend their culture by force – even within France itself – has been destroyed by multiculturalism. France’s natural defenses – patriotism, ethnic identity - have been compromised M. Chirac simply doesn’t know how to defend Paris from a mob any more than he’d know what to do if a foreign army rowed itself ashore and began pillaging southern France. The French like to talk tough against the United States because criticizing America provokes nothing but eye-rolling in Washington and more French jokes on the Internet. Standing up against Muslims inside France would mean a real fight. And the French just don’t have it in them anymore. Not even against a mob of lightly armed youths.

Hopefully, France will at least serve as a warning to its neighbors. The Netherlands has already experienced its Muslim wake-up call with the murder of Theo van Gogh. Now the entire continent can watch the real-world consequences of open door immigration policy and the utter sham of multiculturalism. France cannot assimilate its Muslims, but French Muslims now realize that they can assimilate the French.

Americans watching Paris burn should feel no measure of schadenfreude from the images of French impotence. The US has allowed its southern border to collapse under waves of Mexicans who are colonizing large parts of the US. These immigrants come from a completely alien culture, speak a foreign tongue and show no particular interest in assimilating to American culture. They will, however, work for peanuts, which is why the Bush administration turns its back on the problem. But the Muslims who immigrated to Europe in 70’s and 80’s were only looking for employment too. Now they want more. They want Europe itself. How long until the Mexicans living by millions in the US decide they want the same?