If the curfew doesn't work, they'd better try grounding them next. And take away their cell phones...
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Posted on 11/08/2005 3:10:54 AM PST by Dane
French youths riot again Tue Nov 8, 2005 10:16 AM GMT
Villepin announces curfews French officials, community leaders
By Tom Heneghan
PARIS (Reuters) - Youths rioted across France overnight, torching more than 1,000 vehicles, despite government plans to impose curfews to quell almost two weeks of unrest.
The protests, blamed on racism and unemployment, receded in the Paris region after shots were fired at police the previous night but continued unabated in other parts of France in the early hours of Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said.
Other countries watched nervously and some issued travel warnings. Five cars were torched overnight in Brussels, in addition to five set ablaze on Sunday, in what officials say might have been copycat attacks.
The renewed violence followed a warning by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin that he would take a firm line against lawbreakers, including reinforcements for police and curfews, not seen in France since the Algerian war of 1954-1962.
Villepin's cabinet met on Tuesday and approved the steps.
"Wherever it is necessary, prefects will be able to impose a curfew," Villepin said, referring to the senior officials responsible for security in departments around the country.
A town east of Paris imposed its own curfew on minors on Monday evening and another to the west of the capital organised citizens' patrols to help the police.
Villepin said 1,500 police and gendarmes would be brought in to back up the 8,000 officers already deployed in areas hit by unrest. He also promised to accelerate urban renewal programmes and outlined other plans to help young people in poor suburbs.
MIXED REACTION TO VILLEPIN PLANS
Mayors of riot-hit towns welcomed the tougher line, but some asked what another measure announced by Villepin -- extended powers for them -- would actually mean in practice.
"Every time they announce more powers for mayors, they cut the funds," complained Jean-Christophe Lagarde, mayor of the northeastern Paris suburb of Drancy.
Elisabeth Guigou, a Socialist deputy from the northeastern Paris suburbs, said that invoking a curfew law passed during the Algerian war was "not the best reference" for fighting unrest among youths mostly of North African Arab and African origin.
The left-wing daily Liberation recalled in an editorial that Jacques Chirac was elected president in 1995 after pledging to repair France's "social fracture".
"Chirac's reign is a tragic farce," it wrote.
The opposition Socialists said Villepin had not done enough to give hope to those people in areas hit by the unrest, which has involved poor whites as well as French-born citizens of Arab or African origin complaining of racism and unemployment.
"Beyond the necessary calls for order, what was missing in the prime minister's address was a social dimension, a message and precise commitments towards the people of these areas in difficulty," the Socialist Party said in a statement.
ANOTHER NIGHT OF VIOLENCE
France's conservative government has struggled to formulate a response that could halt the unrest, blamed by many youths on frustration over unemployment, harsh treatment by police and racism.
The violence has prompted warnings that the unrest could damage investment and tourism in France.
The Interior Ministry said 1,173 vehicles had been torched during the night, compared to 1,408 the previous night.
At least four police were hurt, compared with 36 on Sunday night. Some 330 rioters were detained.
In Toulouse, youths set fire to a bus and 21 cars, police said. At least two cars were set ablaze near Lille and two more in Strasbourg, Reuters reporters said.
Police said 14 cars were set alight in the Yvelines district west of Paris and 17 in Seine-Saint-Denis north of the capital, home to many Arab and African immigrants where the unrest began.
Officials in neighbouring Belgium played down the extent of the violence there, although there were also minor incidents of arson in Sint Niklaas in the north and Liege in the east.
"There were no riots. These were all very isolated incidents. Whoever set fire to the cars must have been influenced by the footage of what is going on in France," Brussels fire department spokesman Francis Boileau said.
(Additional reporting by Eric Faye in Paris)
We’d like to stress that in our mind, there is absolutely no credible reason for an average citizen to want to transport a loaded weapon, given the fact that violent crime is practically non-existent in Switzerland. Firearm ownership is widespread in Switzerland, however, and precision shooting is a highly regarded pastime. Young people can practice shooting military weapons by the age of 16, and keep their rifles at home.
For now the French government is admitting they do not have enough manpower (mostly women) to enforce the curfew.
The government, however, is offering more jobs to the rioters.......
There really are no words and I will be watching to see if Germany allows this car burning to escalate.
The rioters signaled in advance that they there was going to be 'unrest' and they carried out their threats.
8000 cops and they still can't sort this out? Sheesh, the Mounties would have had the country on lockdown long ago.
Amusing? Guess those amusing cartoons around the world about our attack on WTC was pretty funny too.
Shades of Enoch Powell?
You know what will get France to take this seriously: If the US issues a travel warning.
It was like pulling teeth. I think reporters there are under a lot of pressure to bury the Muslim angle
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
If the curfew doesn't work, they'd better try grounding them next. And take away their cell phones...
Crosslinking:
Is Paris Burning? ( Religion of Peace® Alert )
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It's surreal.
French are acting like a liberal parent, saying-
Now you better stop that...
I'm going to count to 3...
1, 2, 3...
You're going get into big trouble...
1, 2...
On the surface, it seems that the youth of Paris are just out burning cars for the fun of it, but that isn’t what is happening at all. The suburbs of Paris are burning and it isn’t because of some bored kids. What no one seems to want to mention is the fact that it is angry Muslims who are burning the city every night. Cars are overturned and the violence is escalating. A woman on crutches exiting a bus was doused with gasoline and set ablaze. These “boys” have now moved from burning cars to burning people.
The story was reported that two Muslim boys were trying to avoid a police checkpoint and decided to hide in a high-voltage electric substation. The boys were killed when they touched something they should not have touched. The police deny that they were chasing the boys, but Muslims have used this as an excuse to tear up schools, trains, shops, and any car that dares venture near them and their “turf.”
Islam seems to own the suburbs of Paris and it’s unlikely it will give them back to France. It is equally unlikely that France will demand the suburbs be returned to French control. Chirac seems befuddled and unable to regain control of streets of his own country. This is just what Islam was hoping would happen.
By that I assume you mean "license to carry a concealed handgun in public", as opposed to needing a license to own a rifle or handgun and keep it in your home
It would be interesting to see any memos that have gone out on the matter. Say, for example, a directive specifying which words can't be used in reporting this story...
US has already warned travellers not to leave Paris proper. To stay out of the outlying areas.
Did you hear the 7 o'clock report. Looks like Forrester is getting the early votes!
I believe that's an advisory, though. I think an official travel warning would do a lot more.
I wouldn't impose curfews, they'd be near impossible to enforce.
Believe it or not cold water is the solution.
Hose 'em down. Any "youth" out at night...wet them head to toe.
It's cool out, most of them will go running home. If you doubt me, put on some wet clothes and go outside in 60 degree weather.
The persistent ones are the leaders, so arrest them. Easy to id them...they're wet.
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