Posted on 11/08/2005 8:02:46 PM PST by Rosemont
France declared a state of emergency Tuesday to quell the country's worst unrest since the student uprisings of 1968 that toppled a government, and the prime minister said the nation faced a "moment of truth" over its failure to integrate Arab and African immigrants and their children.
Rioters ignored the extraordinary security measures, which began Wednesday, as they looted and burned two superstores, set fire to a newspaper office and paralyzed France's second largest city's subway system with a gasoline bomb.
The measures, valid for 12 days, clear the way for curfews after nearly two weeks of rioting in neglected and impoverished neighborhoods with largely Muslim communities.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, tacitly acknowledging that France has failed to live up to its egalitarian ideals, reached out to the heavily immigrant suburbs where the rioting began. He said France must make a priority of working against the discrimination that feeds the frustration of youths made to feel that they do not belong in France.
"We must be lucid: The Republic is at a moment of truth," Villepin told parliament. "The effectiveness of our integration model is in question." He called the riots "a warning" and "an appeal."
Despite his conciliatory tone, Villepin said riot police faced "determined individuals, structured gangs, organized criminality," and that restoring order "will take time." Rioters have been using mobile phone text messages and the Internet to organize arson attacks, said police, who arrested two teenage bloggers accused of inciting other youths to riot.
The rioting is forcing France to confront anger building for decades among residents who complain of discrimination and unemployment. Although many of the French-born children of Arab and black African immigrants are Muslim, police say the violence is not being driven by Islamic groups.
Images of teenagers from immigrant families pelting riot police with stones and gasoline bombs _ reminiscent of Palestinian youths attacking Israeli patrols _ are resonating throughout the Arab world.
The Egyptian daily Al-Massaie referred to the riots as "the intefadeh of the poor." Arabic satellite networks have given lead coverage to the mayhem, with regular live reports. Newspapers throughout the region have closely followed the story, calling it a "nightmare" and a "war of the suburbs."
Arson attacks, rioting and other unrest have spread from the suburbs to hundreds of cities and towns _ though acts of violence were down somewhat Monday night from the previous evening.
Officials were forced to shut down the southern city of Lyon's subway system after a gasoline bomb exploded in a station, a regional government spokesman said, adding no one was hurt.
Late Tuesday, rioters looted and set fire to a furniture and electronics store and an adjacent carpet store in Arras, in the northern Pas-de-Calais region and set fire to the Nice-Matin newspaper's office in Grasses, in the southeast the Alpes-Maritimes.
Nine buses were set ablaze at bus depot in Dole, in the eastern Jura region, and a bus exploded in Bassens, near the southwest city of Bordeaux after a gasoline bomb was thrown into it.
The 50-year-old state-of-emergency law that President Jacques Chirac invoked was originally drawn up to quell unrest in Algeria during its war of independence from France and was last used in December 1984 by the Socialist government of President Francois Mitterrand against rioting in the French Pacific Ocean territory of New Caledonia.
That Chirac took such steps was a measure both of the gravity of the crisis and of his sorely tested government's determination to restore control.
"France is wounded. It does not recognize itself in these devastated streets and neighborhoods, in this outburst of hatred and of violence that vandalizes and kills," Villepin said. "The return to order is the absolute priority."
Under the emergency laws, police _ with 8,000 officers deployed and 1,500 reservists called up as reinforcements _ could be empowered in areas where curfews are imposed to put troublemakers under house arrest, ban or limit the movement of people and vehicles, confiscate weapons and close public spaces where gangs gather, Villepin said.
The Interior Ministry said local officials were deciding whether curfew measures were needed in their areas. The Justice Ministry said curfew violators could face up to two months imprisonment and a $4,400 fine. Minors face one month imprisonment.
The northern French city of Amiens and the central city of Orleans said they planned curfews for minors under age 16, who must be accompanied by adults at night. Amiens also planned to forbid the sale of gasoline in cans to minors.
The widespread violence has already led France to begin fast-track trials, with 106 adults and 33 minors so far sentenced to prison or detention centers.
The violence started Oct. 27 as a localized riot in a northeast Paris suburb angry over the accidental electrocutions of two teenagers, of Mauritanian and Tunisian descent, while hiding from police in a power substation.
It has grown into a nationwide insurrection by disillusioned suburban youths, many of them French-born children of immigrants from France's former territories like Algeria. France's suburbs have long been neglected and their youth complain of a lack of jobs and widespread discrimination.
In his speech to parliament, Villepin said jobseekers with foreign- sounding names do not get equal consideration as those with traditional French-sounding names.
The French system, said Jean-Christophe Lagarde, a lawmaker from Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of northeast Paris where the unrest started, is "running out of steam."
The main opposition Socialists, through their parliamentary leader Jean-Marc Ayrault, said they did not oppose the use of curfews but also warned that they should not be used to hide suburban "misery" or become "a new mark of segregation."
Communist Party leader Marie-George Buffet warned that the decree could enflame rioters. "It could be taken anew as a sort of challenge to carry out more violence," she said.
French historians say the rioting is more widespread and destructive in material terms than the May riots of 1968, when university students erected barricades in Paris' Latin Quarter and across France, throwing paving stones at police. That unrest, a turning point in modern France, led to a general strike by 10 million workers and forced President Gen. Charles de Gaulle to dissolve parliament and fire Premier Georges Pompidou.
Security????
I laugh in their face!
"over its failure to integrate Arab and African immigrants and their children"
Why do they keep saying this? How about the failure of open immigration policies, how about the failure in teaching youths the lack of values by their own parents?
Just recieved this mock e-mail today.
"President Bush May Send Up To 5 Marines For French Assistance"
President Bush has authorized the Joint Chiefs to begin drawing up a battle plan to pull France's rear out of the fire again. Facing an apparent
overwhelming force of up to 400 ticked off teenagers Mr. Bush doubts
France's ability to hold off the little tyrants.
"Hell, if the last two world wars are any indication, I would expect France to surrender any day now," said Bush. Joint Chiefs head, Gen. Peter Pace, warned the President that it might be necessary to send up to 5 marines to get things under control. The general admitted that 5 marines may be overkill but he wanted to get this thing under control within 24 hours of arriving on scene.
He stated he was having a hard time finding even one marine to help the ungrateful French out for a third time but thought that he could persuade a few women marines to do the job before they went on pregnancy leave.
President Bush asked Gen. Pace to get our marines out of there as soon as possible after order was restored. He also reminded Gen. Pace to make sure the marines did not take soap, razors, or deodorant with them. The less they stand out the better.
Rioters ignored the extraordinary security measures
"... and that restoring order "will take time."
It could have been done by now if they had started shooting the first night. Just how far out of the "poor muslim ghettos" has this rioting gone? It sounds like they are now starting to go into regular French areas.
Nonsense! This is just like the civil rights riots in the 60s...
Right, France?
I love the smell of france burning.
Smells like...............schadenfreude!!!!
Hopefully the French people will stand up and fix the situation.
I like it.
Awwwwwwwwww!
(PS: It's not "security" when they won't lift a finger to stop looters, arsonists, and murderers: it's a farce.
You know, FARCE: like Jerry Lewis?)
Nah, it's time to just shoot the scum down in the street. Wear a mask, throw a rock or cocktail, bam, you're dead.
The cowardly French just don't get it. Do they think it's going to stop? Do they think it will bet better later? Dream on.
Goodbye France.
"Hopefully the French people will stand up and fix the situation."
When?! Christmas? This is Day 15.
"Nothing to see here folks..... move along, move along."
Gloating? Who, Me? Yep. Hehehehe.
So they can continue their rioting in a couple of weeks? So clueless, they may be swinging from gallows by the time they understand what's at stake here.
The moronic French never learn anything. It's no wonder liberals love them so.
They better figure it out because the person driving the bus over there doesn't seem to have a clue.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.