Passive Voice in French

It seems that the French can also utilize the passive voice to describe events just as we can in English when we don't want to say who did it. You know, like the old, "Mistakes were made" phrase you hear in Washington all the time? Courtesy of Gallia Watch, we have a report on how the Le Parisian reported riots in Paris on July 13-14 (Bastille Day). There is a link to the French-language article.

http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2011/07/globally-calm-despite-some-violence.html#links

"Police were the target of a bottle of acid."

I wonder if the bottle of acid was arrested or escaped.

But Fousesquawk to the rescue. We have identified the culprits.



Not buying that, eh? Perhaps, this will help. These are the affected areas around Paris as mentioned in the article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seine-Saint-Denis