Villiers-le-Bel

For other places with the same name, see Villiers (disambiguation).

Villiers-le-Bel
City hall
Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs
Location within Île-de-France region  Villiers-le-Bel
Administration
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Val-d'Oise
Arrondissement	Sarcelles
Canton	Villiers-le-Bel
Intercommunality	Val de France
Mayor	Didier Vaillant (2001–2008)
Statistics
Elevation	64–147 m (210–482 ft) (avg. 75 m or 246 ft)
Land area1	7.3 km2 (2.8 sq mi)
Population2	27,361  (2006)
- Density	3,748 /km2 (9,710 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	95680/ 95400
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Villiers-le-Bel is a commune in the French department of Val-d'Oise, in the northern suburbs of Paris. It is located 17.4 km (10.8 mi) from the center of Paris.

Transport

Villiers-le-Bel is served by no station of the Paris Métro, RER, or suburban rail network. The closest station to Villiers-le-Bel is Villiers-le-Bel – Gonesse – Arnouville station on Paris RER line D. This station is located in the neighboring commune of Arnouville-lès-Gonesse, 2.5 km (1.6 mi) from the town center of Villiers-le-Bel.

Demography

Historical populations
Year	Pop.	±%
1793	1,633	—
1800	1,350	−17.3%
1806	1,325	−1.9%
1821	1,178	−11.1%
1831	1,209	+2.6%
1836	1,322	+9.3%
1841	1,883	+42.4%
1846	1,979	+5.1%
1851	1,934	−2.3%
1856	1,951	+0.9%
1861	2,132	+9.3%
1866	2,107	−1.2%
1872	1,735	−17.7%
1876	1,968	+13.4%
1881	2,016	+2.4%
1886	1,968	−2.4%
1891	1,649	−16.2%
1896	1,644	−0.3%
1901	1,723	+4.8%
1906	1,718	−0.3%
1911	1,845	+7.4%
1921	2,377	+28.8%
1926	3,324	+39.8%
1931	4,389	+32.0%
1936	4,351	−0.9%
1946	4,209	−3.3%
1954	4,852	+15.3%
1962	12,797	+163.7%
1968	19,119	+49.4%
1975	21,876	+14.4%
1982	24,808	+13.4%
1990	26,110	+5.2%
1999	26,145	+0.1%

Neighboring communes

• Arnouville-lès-Gonesse
• Bouqueval
• Écouen
• Le Plessis-Gassot
• Gonesse
• Sarcelles

2007 unrest

Main article: 2007 civil unrest in France

On the night of 25 November 2007, black African and Arabic gangs attacked a police station in Villiers-le-Bel, torched cars, and vandalized stores. The violence was prompted by the deaths of two adolescents after a crash between their motorbike and a police patrol car at an intersection. The disturbances spread to neighbouring towns on the night of 26 November. 82 police officers were injured, four of them seriously, by shotgun blasts.

Personalities

• Alexandre Beljame (1842–1906), writer.
• Mickael Citony footballer
• Marie-Laure Delie footballer
• 113 and Sentinel, is a group of guy from the VVL and Cascades, today thirties whose dream was to leave and renamed VLB "Guelébé" during a barbecue at the center Allende because they think VLB did not deserve that name after the riots of 2007.
• Gael N'Lundulu footballer
• Kevin Vinetot footballer

Villiers le Bel is also home to many of France's top rappers such as Armaguedon, kazkami, Arsenik, K.ommando Toxik, 113 and Sentinel, Sboko, Makiavelik,R D'elite, and CH3.

See also

• Communes of the Val-d'Oise department

References

General

• INSEE
• Association of Mayors of the Val d’Oise (French)
• Report of disturbances in the French daily Le Figaro (in French)
• Association of Mayors of the Val d'Oise (French)
• INSEE commune file

External links

• Official website (French)
• Mérimée database - Cultural heritage (French)
• Land use (IAURIF) (English)