Posted on 11/09/2005 3:52:48 AM PST by kcvl
By D'ARCY DORAN, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
PARIS - Rioters defied a state of emergency that took effect 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 firebomb.
However, the number of car burnings — a barometer for the unrest — dropped sharply, suggesting the movement lost steam. Overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, youths torched 617 vehicles, down from 1,173 the previous night, national police spokesman Patrick Hamon said. Incidents were reported in 116 towns, down from 226 the night before.
President Jacques Chirac announced extraordinary security measures, which began Wednesday and are valid for a 12-day state of emergency, clearing the way for curfews after nearly two weeks of rioting that began in neglected and impoverished suburban neighborhoods with large Muslim communities.
The French capital and its suburbs, as well as more than 30 other cities, were covered by the state-of-emergency decree, according to a government bulletin published Wednesday. It empowers officials to put troublemakers under house arrest, ban or limit the movement of people and vehicles, confiscate weapons and close public spaces where gangs gather.
Towns included on the list stretched from Nice on the Mediterranean to Strasbourg on the German border and Le Havre on the English Channel, giving an indication of how widespread the unrest has become.
The mayhem sweeping the neglected and impoverished neighborhoods with large African and Arab communities is forcing France to confront anger building for decades among residents who complain of discrimination and unemployment.
In overnight violence, officials were forced to shut down the southern city of Lyon's subway system after a firebomb exploded in a station late Tuesday, a regional government spokesman said. No one was hurt. Transport officials were to decide Wednesday morning when service could resume, the spokesman said.
Arsonists also set fire to the Nice-Matin newspaper's office in Grasse in the southeast Alpes-Maritimes region, national police spokesman Patrick Reydy said.
Youths threw gasoline bombs at police who retaliated with tear gas in the southern city of Toulouse, where Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy was visiting, LCI television said.
"None of us has a choice," Sarkozy told police and fire department representatives in Toulouse. "We have to succeed. We will not budge a centimeter."
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said riot police faced "determined individuals, structured gangs, organized criminality." Police say rioters have been using mobile phone text messages and the Internet to organize arson attacks.
Villepin, tacitly acknowledging that France has failed to live up to its egalitarian ideals, said discrimination was a "daily and repeated" reality.
French regional officials were preparing to use the state-of-emergency powers to impose curfews. The Interior Ministry said there was no centralized list of towns and cities that would be affected, because curfew measures were being drawn up locally.
The northern French city of Amiens, the central city of Orleans and Savigny-sur-Orge, and the Essonne region south of Paris said they planned curfews for minors, who must be accompanied by adults at night. Despite the curfew, two cars were burned in Amiens, police said. Six cars were burned there a night earlier.
Curfew violators face up to two months in jail and a $4,400 fine, the Justice Ministry said. Minors face one month in jail.
The 50-year-old state-of-emergency law was 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.
The violence started Oct. 27 as a localized riot in a northeast Paris suburb angry over the accidental deaths of two teenagers, of Mauritanian and Tunisian descent, electrocuted 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.
French historians say the rioting is more widespread and more 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.
___
Associated Press writers John Leicester, Christine Ollivier, Jamey Keaten and Angela Doland contributed to this report.
These liberal writers make me sick!
What the heck kind of logic is that? They try to blow up a subway but because fewer cars were burned it's getting better. :()
Question: What do Chirac and Blanco have in common?
Have the French police managed to arrest ANYBODY?
They arrest, they don't convict, they release.
I notice that you can get great rates on tour packages to Paris.
Myself, I prefer the casino in Vegas. Cleaner, smells better, speaks English, better food and wine, friendlier and more competent.
New description..."civically-challenged"!
Rioters defied a state of emergency that took effect
Wait a minute. There is a state of emergency. How can the rioters just ignore it??
When did car burnings become the official barometer for measuring riots?
Our emergency date: September 11, 2001
Frawnce's date: November 8, 2005. (Yer a liddle late there, Pierre.)
"They arrest, they don't convict, they release."
I've heard that "Catch and Release Programs" work....wait, that was for fish.
In a related release from Chirac's office: Police officers were given orders allowing them to raise their voices when dealing with the "youths."
Are we ready to learn anything yet? In spite of a wish to gloat over France's agony (and oh, how I wish to), we had better turn to our "better angels" and pay close attention to what is happening. Do we imagine it can't happen here? Did we ever believe 9-11 could?
We are in a WAR and the left can ignore it as long as it likes (no one EVER accused a leftist of being smart), but THAT is a fact.
This has NOTHING to do with "racism", "poverty" or any OTHER excuse the left wants to give these barbarians- it is about their absolute contempt of the West and its people.
Make no mistake- these savages will kill you, your children, your dog and anyone else you care about. And it WON'T be because of money. It will BE because they HATE you- bottom line.
Are we ready for Paris-like riots in OUR cities? It's coming and don't delude yourselves. And THIS old country girl is sick to DEATH of leftist whining about "diversity", Islam as a "religion of peace"(check your history- it never HAS been), and political correctness.
I hope any extremists keep THIS in mind- WE are NOT the "government" as you know it- WE are the government, the heart and the soul of this country and if our paid government "plays France", you WILL deal with the REST of us.
Islam, The Alleged Religion of Peace® ( TARP™ )? Click this picture:
No, I am not exaggerating. Click the pic, go to "last," and read backwards.
If you are not informed about this stuff, you will be made sick. If you are informed, you will be made mad, all over again.
Kindly note tagline...
Is this a joke?? They burned down two Supercenters, a newspaper ofice and the damned subway but its getting better because they ran out of cars to burn?
Now they are calling them French youths instead of Islamic black terrorists. On another thread there is a list of appeasement entitlements they have given out. The French wont be French much longer.
Question: What do Chirac and Blanco have in common?
Ineptness!
This has gone beyond rioting and has become an insurgency. It’s time to put away the clubs and shields, bring in the military and start shooting to kill. Kill as many of them as you can. Surround entire neighborhoods with the military and go door to door and raid each dwelling. Kill anyone who resists arrest or is caught rioting and then deport those left who don't speak fluent French. Deport every Imam. Close down every mosque. And last but not least. Close the border to immigration.
So after 2 weeks, the rioters are starting to get bored. Next, they'll be looking for bigger thrills, and watch out!
Meanwhile after 2 weeks, a declared "state of emergency". HELLOOOOO! The state of emergency started on the first night, 2 weeks ago.
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