You bunch of pansies!
Posted on 11/06/2005 1:21:11 PM PST by JustaCowgirl
By Elizabeth Pineau and Sophie Louet
PARIS (Reuters) - President Jacques Chirac on Sunday vowed to restore order in France after riots in Paris spread across the country and began to unnerve his European neighbours.
"The Republic is quite determined, by definition, to be stronger than those who want to sow violence or fear," Chirac said after a special domestic security council met to respond to the latest violence in which 1,300 vehicles went up in flames.
"The law must have the last word," Chirac said in his first public comments since the riots started in the poor suburbs, noting the importance of the respect of all, the law and the equality of chances.
Signs of a fresh wave of violence emerged on Sunday evening when youths seized a bus in Saint-Etienne, in southern France, ordering passengers to get off and then torching the vehicle.
The driver and one passenger were hurt, officials said.
In Rouen, in the north, rioters pushed a burning car against a police building. No-one was hurt, police said. Cars were also burnt in the cities of Nantes, Rennes and Orleans, media said.
Chirac's government is struggling to cope with an explosion of unrest with complex social, economic and racial causes.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said the government would step up security wherever necessary. Some 2,300 extra officers have already been drafted in.
"We cannot accept any 'no-go' areas," Villepin said after meeting Chirac, adding he would announce his plans for the country's underprivileged suburbs on national television on Monday.
Rioting began 10 days ago with the accidental electrocution of two youths apparently fleeing police. Their deaths ignited frustration among ethnic minorities over racism, unemployment, police treatment and their marginal place in French society.
"This is too much, stop!" sobbed a woman in Evreux, a normally quiet town in rural Normandy where a shopping mall, 50 vehicles, a post office and two schools were destroyed.
"FRANCE IS NOT BURNING"
Across France, 1,300 vehicles went up in flames overnight. For the first time, more than 30 were destroyed inside the city walls of Paris. Previously quiet towns such as Dreux, to the west, and the city of Nantes were also affected.
Police said 349 people had been arrested, including six youths caught stockpiling 90 Molotov cocktails in a disused police building south of Paris.
Despite the worst destruction since the riots started, a police spokesman called for a sense of proportion: "It's 211 districts out of 36,000, so France is not burning."
Authorities say drug traffickers and Islamist militants are helping to organise the unrest, via the Internet and mobile phones, among the North and sub-Saharan African immigrant communities who make up a significant part of many suburban housing estates.
The violence has tarnished France's image abroad, forcing Villepin to cancel a trip to Canada, while Russia and the United States have warned their citizens to avoid troubled suburbs.
Neighbouring Germany, too, has a large immigrant population, including over 3 million Muslims -- most of Turkish origin.
Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy leader of the conservative Christian Democrats in parliament, said Germany should be under no illusion that similar events could happen there too.
In Italy, opposition leader Romano Prodi called on the government to take urgent action, telling reporters:
"We have the worst suburbs in Europe. I don't think things are so different from Paris. It's only a question of time."
Jean-Marie Huet, a senior Justice Ministry official, said 160 people had been brought before the courts since the unrest started. Around 20 had been jailed, 30 others released on bail, and 50 minors had been brought before juvenile courts.
French Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande said the riots were a failure of government policy and leadership. Communist and Green Party officials demanded Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who wants to run for president in 2007, resign over remarks opponents say stoked the violence.
(Additional reporting by Brian Rohan, Astrid Wendlandt, Kerstin Gehmlich and Jon Boyle in Paris, Paul Carrel in Evreux)
Gee, I'd forgotten all about the B'ham riots. It seems so long ago now.
Here's something I don't understand. People complain about illegal immigration here, but at least the Mexicans have created thriving business districts in L.A., Texas, Florida....well, just about everywhere!
Are there thriving Muslim businesses in these suburbs of Paris? Other European cities? If not, why not?
ROFLOL! You disparage President Bush and the way he has dealt with terrorism and expect to be taken seriously??
And that, to me, is endlessly frustrating. There is a giant gorilla named "Mohammad" in the room that nobody in charge will talk about.
Yes he does ... and I'm worried.
Bush's policies are encouraging unregulated immigration without any attempt to assimilate the growing masses of these immigrants. 85% of these immigrants share similar cultures, religion and life experiences. A prescription for unification into a monolithic mob should the US economy weaken. Sound familiar?
This is the arm of the GOP and the RAT's I don't like... one is appeasing big business and putting our country in danger and the other thinks if they are liberal on immigration the hispanic vote will be their's... and both are disingenious.
Two corrections--
The first is that Chirac does like Saddam--the two have been close friends for about 20 years. According to L'Express (the French counterpart to Time/Newsweak) Chirac even learned Arabic so they could communicate without an interpreter!
2) There are in fact a good number of Frenchmen who are armed, at least with hunting guns. However, the right to self=defense is English in origin. I'm not sure how it works in civil law countries.
3)France is at least 80% non-Muslim.
The left and the media have been calling for the resignation of Sarkozy, the hard-line Minister of the Interior. Sarkozy wants to run for President in 2007. What I fear is that Chirac and deVillepain are willing to let France burn long enough to destroy Sarkozy's chances--they are both corrupt and stupid enough. The French police and military have a reputation for toughness and even brutality--someone at the top is holding them back.
You bunch of pansies!
Yes, but some of them are from an Algerian tribe called the Harki (sp?), who were loyal to France during the Algerian war and have no love for the people causing the violence.
I pray that it doesn't escalate beyond that....
What they need is a nuanced poem from that great man, de Villepain.
Let them eat S##T.
Pardon my French.
And why we need to be sure Hildy or Kerry (or whoever the dems pick) don't win in 2008.
They do realize it--Chirac's approval numbers have been as low as 28% this year. However, the next election is in 2007.
The two situations are not parallel.......and I think you know that.
Does Geico sell car insurance in France?
"... about how Katrina showed how weak our American system of aid is... "
But Ted Kennedy, on Russert (another item on FR today) referred to, and I quote, "the failure of Katrina". Hmmm.
Stop, or we'll hold another round of high-level meetings!
"Just like the old fols dropping like flies in the 80 degree "heat wave" weren't a problem."
Good connection.
When things get to the juncture they're now at in France, I quite agree. It's absolutely the most humane thing to do.
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