so france is Securely Burning then...
Posted on 11/08/2005 8:02:46 PM PST by Rosemont
France declared a state of emergency Tuesday to quell the country's worst unrest since the student uprisings of 1968 that toppled a government, and the prime minister said the nation faced a "moment of truth" over its failure to integrate Arab and African immigrants and their children.
Rioters ignored the extraordinary security measures, which began 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 gasoline bomb.
The measures, valid for 12 days, clear the way for curfews after nearly two weeks of rioting in neglected and impoverished neighborhoods with largely Muslim communities.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, tacitly acknowledging that France has failed to live up to its egalitarian ideals, reached out to the heavily immigrant suburbs where the rioting began. He said France must make a priority of working against the discrimination that feeds the frustration of youths made to feel that they do not belong in France.
"We must be lucid: The Republic is at a moment of truth," Villepin told parliament. "The effectiveness of our integration model is in question." He called the riots "a warning" and "an appeal."
Despite his conciliatory tone, Villepin said riot police faced "determined individuals, structured gangs, organized criminality," and that restoring order "will take time." Rioters have been using mobile phone text messages and the Internet to organize arson attacks, said police, who arrested two teenage bloggers accused of inciting other youths to riot.
The rioting is forcing France to confront anger building for decades among residents who complain of discrimination and unemployment. Although many of the French-born children of Arab and black African immigrants are Muslim, police say the violence is not being driven by Islamic groups.
Images of teenagers from immigrant families pelting riot police with stones and gasoline bombs _ reminiscent of Palestinian youths attacking Israeli patrols _ are resonating throughout the Arab world.
The Egyptian daily Al-Massaie referred to the riots as "the intefadeh of the poor." Arabic satellite networks have given lead coverage to the mayhem, with regular live reports. Newspapers throughout the region have closely followed the story, calling it a "nightmare" and a "war of the suburbs."
Arson attacks, rioting and other unrest have spread from the suburbs to hundreds of cities and towns _ though acts of violence were down somewhat Monday night from the previous evening.
Officials were forced to shut down the southern city of Lyon's subway system after a gasoline bomb exploded in a station, a regional government spokesman said, adding no one was hurt.
Late Tuesday, rioters looted and set fire to a furniture and electronics store and an adjacent carpet store in Arras, in the northern Pas-de-Calais region and set fire to the Nice-Matin newspaper's office in Grasses, in the southeast the Alpes-Maritimes.
Nine buses were set ablaze at bus depot in Dole, in the eastern Jura region, and a bus exploded in Bassens, near the southwest city of Bordeaux after a gasoline bomb was thrown into it.
The 50-year-old state-of-emergency law that President Jacques Chirac invoked was originally 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.
That Chirac took such steps was a measure both of the gravity of the crisis and of his sorely tested government's determination to restore control.
"France is wounded. It does not recognize itself in these devastated streets and neighborhoods, in this outburst of hatred and of violence that vandalizes and kills," Villepin said. "The return to order is the absolute priority."
Under the emergency laws, police _ with 8,000 officers deployed and 1,500 reservists called up as reinforcements _ could be empowered in areas where curfews are imposed to put troublemakers under house arrest, ban or limit the movement of people and vehicles, confiscate weapons and close public spaces where gangs gather, Villepin said.
The Interior Ministry said local officials were deciding whether curfew measures were needed in their areas. The Justice Ministry said curfew violators could face up to two months imprisonment and a $4,400 fine. Minors face one month imprisonment.
The northern French city of Amiens and the central city of Orleans said they planned curfews for minors under age 16, who must be accompanied by adults at night. Amiens also planned to forbid the sale of gasoline in cans to minors.
The widespread violence has already led France to begin fast-track trials, with 106 adults and 33 minors so far sentenced to prison or detention centers.
The violence started Oct. 27 as a localized riot in a northeast Paris suburb angry over the accidental electrocutions of two teenagers, of Mauritanian and Tunisian descent, 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.
In his speech to parliament, Villepin said jobseekers with foreign- sounding names do not get equal consideration as those with traditional French-sounding names.
The French system, said Jean-Christophe Lagarde, a lawmaker from Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of northeast Paris where the unrest started, is "running out of steam."
The main opposition Socialists, through their parliamentary leader Jean-Marc Ayrault, said they did not oppose the use of curfews but also warned that they should not be used to hide suburban "misery" or become "a new mark of segregation."
Communist Party leader Marie-George Buffet warned that the decree could enflame rioters. "It could be taken anew as a sort of challenge to carry out more violence," she said.
French historians say the rioting is more widespread and 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.
"paralyzed France's second largest city's subway system with a gasoline bomb" - This is terrorism. This isn't rioting. And no, I don't want to let the Islamic thugs take France. No. I won't give up France to them. And, some may not understand, but there is a Right-Wing, a conservative force, in Europe. And in France. In the 1990's, conservatives in America started communications with conservatives in Europe. And, there is a global aspect to the conservative movement. And, what we need to do, it to communicate with the conservatives in Europe. And we must, and will, save Europe. This is war. It has nothing to do with poverty, because using such words as is used in the leftist old media, is the code words of Socialism, Communism, and so-called "Democrats", for their agenda of anti-Capitalism. I will not give up France. I say, Joan of Arc or some girl, again can come and take the flag of Europe and the West, and kill the enemy.
Follow up to post 4.
Ex-Presidential Campaign hopeful(less) John F. Kerry has issued a statement regarding the possible deployment of 5 U.S. Marine troops to France.
"I am in full support of the President sending troops to France. I whole-heartedly expect to vote for the troops before I vote against them."
so france is Securely Burning then...
There are only 9.500 police officers available in whole France? And that's included the reservists...
oopss... 9,500 not 9.500
" Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, tacitly acknowledging that France has failed to live up to its egalitarian ideals, reached out to the heavily immigrant suburbs where the rioting began. He said France must make a priority of working against the discrimination that feeds the frustration of youths made to feel that they do not belong in France. "
In other words, the French government is apologizing to the scum that is burning down their country.
Say! Why don't we send HIM over to rescue the Frenchies. He could pull another Viet Nam and have it all filmed for posterity. I mean, Kerry has all the answers, right? Right?
They're in even deeper denial than I realized.
I bent over for multiculturism
I did Food-for-Oil
I badmouthed America...
And all I got were these lousy riots.
Someone with some sense appears on the thread.
ML/NJ
"We must be lucid: The Republic is at a moment of truth," Villepin told parliament. "The effectiveness of our integration model is in question." He called the riots "a warning" and "an appeal."
Be lucid...? HA!! The republic is at a moment of crumbling cheese sniffer. Your waaay too liberal integration model sucks - and the riots are proving the suckiness of your socialist integration model.
What you need to do is reach way back and slap the rioters back into place with whatever means necessary there Frenchie, or be prepared to pray 5 times a day.
A warning... yeah? An appeal... so? What gives anyone the right to riot? Sometimes countries never learn.
"over its failure to integrate Arab and African immigrants and their children"
'Why do they keep saying this?'
Exactly! Why don't they ever say that it is a failure of islam or or arab culture to produce civilized human beings?
========================================================================
Yep, the French are really on top of this situation. This has nothing to do with Islam.
Let's not forget Halliburton.
While it is true that our natural allies in Europe are the center-right parties (e.g. CDU/CSU in Germany), in France it is the unusual case where the parties on the right are no less anti-American than the left, and perhaps more so. Chirac, de Villepin represent the center-right in France, and they are basically gaullists, and see America as being the principal obstacle to achieving the greater glory of France. And the far right, the party of Le Pen, is very anti-American.
Sarkozy, however, seems to be somewhat friendly towards us, but it is not clear how much. And there is a real pro-American right intelligentsia, but it is tiny, and consists of people like Jean-Francois Revel.
I agree with you however, while I despise the French political leadership of all stripes and the French MSM as well, I think it would be a great tragedy to lose France.
Right as rain!
And besides, he already speaks the language!
I'm enjoying a schadenfreude sandwich. Tasty, man, tasty.
I'm switching to Plochman's
So much for those pesky YOUTHS; the adult/youth ration is consistently high on the adult end, what with all the PROPAGANDA that it's YOUTHS who are the guilty party.
Sure it would.
Why, whatever would we do without all that wonderful French whine?
(No, there are no misspellings above; why do you ask?)
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.