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)
This is why Chirac is so fondly referred to as,
The First Knucklehead of Europe.
Part of the problem--and I suspect it's only part--is that with so much regulation, it's very hard to start your own business. It's also very difficult to find work, because govt. regulations make it so hard to fire anyone. In Germany, it's actually illegal to set yourself as a shoe shine guy, because it's considered "undignified" work!
"Bleak."
If we assume that the French will surrender, I wonder how they will do it?
Really, I am unable to imagine what will happen next.
"Their Socialist and Communist parties sound and act just like the Democrats here"
That's part of their Internationale pedigree. The dogs.
" The French have the rifles, I do not know if they have the will."
They don't.
However, I myself would not advocate your tactics either. Police need to have other sorts of weapons and strategies to use.
They are not.
Under both circumstances cheap labor is/was being imported at a rate that can't/couldn't accommodated cultural assimilation. In both cases little attempt was/is being made to mainstream the immigrants beyond a primary "public" education. In both cases immigrants were/are being forced into cultural ghettos. In both cases these cultural ghettos are producing institutionalized public misbehavior and a mistrust of public authority.
There are numerous examples of these parallels. Hopefully the US will learn from France's experiences and adjust our public policies before we suffer the same fate.
Pellet guns in action is what I take from it.
Which is it?
Do you believe that Mexican immigrants will be rioting in the streets en masse setting cars afire any time soon (having lived in squalor based on their race and culture for years)? Or not?
Is the United States the same as France in any way, shape, or form? Or not?
The Muslim community is actually in Dearborn and I don't believe you'll ever see the Arab/Muslim community there burn anything. They actually enjoy a pretty high standard of living there and Dearborn is economically sound middle class city. Now as far as their allegiance to the US vs a Muslim state, no guarantees.
Hopefully all of the burnt vehicles were insured by the Gecko and Progressive Insurance.
...yet...
That's what they say when the Tour De France heads through such beautiful towns and villages every year.
These boneheads are so stupid. The one guy who actually stood up to the Muslims (in speech only, you can't get any more than that so don't ask) they thoroughly chastised him and even he has now been neutered.
If you don't have a fireplace this winter, just turn on the news. It'll serve as one all winter.
Does Geico sell car insurance in France?
Is the United States the same as France in any way, shape, or form? Or not?
"Wait a minute. France has ghetto's? "
It's a sweet moment, all right. After all the crap they've given us for so many years.
"Sending in the army might not be something the Chirac govt. believes it can do"
Very good. Maybe they should send in their poets?
Here is the caption:
In German-occupied France, a Frenchman weeps as spectators watch the historic flags of French regiments leave to cross the Mediterranean, Feb. 19, 1941, in Marseilles. 
"and I suspect it's only part--is that with so much regulation,"
Actually, regulations are a very big part of the problem. The worst laws are the ones that make it difficult to lay workers off. That guarantees that nobody wants to hire anybody.
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.