Rodéo (riot)

The rodéo was a technique of rioting which became popular in France beginning in 1981, often associated with youth of North African descent, and the Lyon suburb of Minguettes. These riots consisted of stealing cars, driving them in tight circles, and ultimately burning them. Some reports indicate the cars were stolen from more prosperous areas, and taken to depressed neighborhoods to be burned in order to lure police to those areas for street battles.

Over the summer of 1981, 250 cars were stolen and burned in government housing projects of Marseilles, Lyon, Roubaix, Nancy, and Paris.