Guardian Angels Scout Paris Metro for Possible Patrol
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PARIS — The New York-based Guardian Angels scouted the Paris Metro in their red berets and white T-shirts Monday to see whether they should begin anti-crime subway patrols despite official opposition.
Lisa Sliwa, co-leader of the group with her husband, Curtis, told reporters that she and three Guardian Angels from London will spend the week traveling the Paris subways “to see if we’re needed.”
“The situation is not as bad in Paris as in New York. Here it’s possible to take preventive action to keep things from getting worse,” Sliwa said, speaking in French at a news conference at the busy Chatelet Metro stop in the heart of the city.
She said she was disappointed that officials in Mayor Jacques Chirac’s office and in the Paris transit authority did not respond to her requests for meetings.
“I want at least a chance to explain what we’re doing,” she said. “Afterwards, they can be against it. But if Parisians want us to be here, we’ll stay.”
The transit authority later issued a statement saying, “We are completely opposed to those who act as a militia or other police force.”
The Guardian Angels, created in New York in 1979, have patrolled the London Underground since May.
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