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)
Frenchie indecision and inaction are now, after 11 nights, sending all the wrong signals, globally. First, it is telling Al Quida that French suburbs are even more primed for more serious ventures than they ever suspected. Second, it is telling similar suburbs across Europe, already Denmark, I don't think Italy (because the Guidos won't put up with this), but soon in many other places, that they cannot expect significant EARLY retaliation. So they have some days grace to do pretty much whatever they want whenever they want.
Many have been noting, and correctly: If Bush acted in anything like this way, European elites and decision-makers would be all over him. The Dems, of course, would promote more striden welfarism as they simply say - as always - that whatever Bush is doing is wrong.
Even if Monday night is quiet, which I doubt, the messages above have been sent. Only a ferocious crackdown would begin to send a very different message, and we have alreadyh seen that Frenchie is hardly going to take this turn at any time.
Paterson, NJ gets my vote as the most likely flash point. A even lower class of vermin seems to have gathered there.
a good article, if you missed it
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1517019/posts?page=1
True, the same thing went on in LA, but that was because you saw no cops whatsoever. If you did there would have been a lot of dead looters which to me should have happened considering that they were rioting based on a punk named Rodney King who was high on PCP who drove cops on a 100 MPH car chase then charged cops twice and refused to get on the ground after twice being tased. He even pulled down his pants and told a female cop to kiss is azz. But of course the media only showed the part were he got beat up. The LA looters didn`t like it that the cops beat him up? Tough. The cops had every right to shoot that POS but they didn`t and instead the liberals made him Rodney King millionaire. In France though they were posing in the street doing nothing displaying their unconditional surrender tactic as usual. If the French had any guts they would open fire on these mutts. What these slime have done is declare war on the country of France and the French as usual do nothing. What is it, 11 days now this has been going on? What the hell are they waiting for? Bring in the Army and blow them down to hell with their 72 goat virgins. Guaranteed this is only going to get worse and worse because the French do not know the meaning of the word defense. It confuses them.
"Somalia? I said more than 2 years ago - france will soon be a third world country... "
Will soon be a third world country?
Maybe they can get Saddam to come and calm things down!
yep
I thought France was a third world country. :)
He is ordering up white flags as we speak.
you are right. Had me worried there for a minute (!)
Let's get ready for France's Sixth Republic
That's the spirit! We haven't even begun to surrender!
"a good article"
Agreed. Lays out the roadmap of what the French response will be. Seems accurate.
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