Posted on 11/12/2005 4:40:41 PM PST by blam
French police turn on Chirac as officer jailed
By Kim Willsher in Paris and Henry Samuel in Bobigny
(Filed: 13/11/2005)
After 16 nights battling urban violence by rioters, Jacques Chirac's government is confronting angry new protests - from the police themselves.
Firefighters extinguish a burning car in Strasbourg
Officers at the forefront of attempts to control the wave of riots and arson attacks across France are furious at moves to prosecute policemen accused of assaulting a youth.
As officers were deployed in force in Paris yesterday following a call on weblogs for a mass demonstration, the police union described the jailing of one officer and the suspension of others as "incomprehensible and unacceptable".
Police officers, who have been targeted with stones, missiles and Molotov cocktails since the trouble broke out, said they were "stupefied" by the action taken against their colleagues. Alliance, the main police union, appealed to members for calm after the decision to take the first steps towards charging five police officers implicated in the assault on a youth.
State television showed images of two officers hitting and kicking a young man while six colleagues stood by watching in the northern Paris suburb of La Courneuve on Monday. One officer is being held in detention while four others are also under formal investigation.
The French interior ministry said the victim had suffered cuts to his face and right foot, but had been declared fit for work.
The case has brought to the surface growing police resentment at the failure by politicians to resolve the crisis, the most serious and protracted outbreak of violence in France since 1968.
Jean-Pierre Raymaud, the leader of another police union, told Le Figaro newspaper: "For 15 days we've been targeted constantly and under a lot of pressure. This isn't an excuse but it has to be taken into account. The police have done their work and I don't think finding one or two scapegoats just to demonstrate firmness is fair."
Yesterday afternoon police were out in force but maintaining a discreet profile on the Champs-Elyseés, Paris's most celebrated avenue, after bloggers from the banlieues called for a demonstration yesterday evening. Squad cars and coaches full of riot police were parked in side streets and at either end of the avenue.
The police said that 502 cars had been burned on Friday night, more than on either of the two previous nights, and 206 people were taken into custody.
Mr Chirac's ministers are relying on a combination of police power, curfew orders and a court crackdown to quell the rioting. So far, 593 adults among the 2,440 people arrested have been rushed through "fast track" hearings and 464 have been sent to jail for up to a year. A further 102 juveniles have received custodial sentences.
Pascal Clement, the justice minister, said last week: "I have instructed prosecutors to recommend the strictest sentences for those who have deliberately crossed the laws of the Republic."
The number of cases being pushed through three special courts at Bobigny, northeast of Paris, has led to complaints that justice is being rushed. Mourad Sehan, a legal aid defence lawyer, said: "One man whom I defended and was given a five-month sentence had an alibi that nobody bothered to verify."
Two defendants who appeared before the judge in Chamber 17 of Bobigny criminal court were typical. As their handcuffs were removed, Youssouf Souare, 20, and Bandiougou Diawara, 18, gazed nervously around the crowded courthouse as they were charged with "fabricating and possessing an explosive device". In other words: making a petrol bomb. On the wooden benches, their bewildered families were outnumbered by journalists.
The police claimed that officers had discovered a bottle of petrol and three rags in the boot of their car, and traces of petrol on their hands.
Souare insisted there was just half an inch of cleaning petrol in a plastic bottle, and three old rags - which he said he had because he was employed to remove graffiti on the local council estate. The prosecutor looked embarrassed and declined to recommend a sentence. The two men were acquitted, to cheers from their supporters.
François Molins, the prosecutor general at Bobigny, said: "Trials are rapid but not rushed. We are used to dealing with urban violence and we have kept our serenity."
"Chirac has now declared he isn't willing to FIGHT for France"
We're back to Vichy France and Chirac is the new Petain. He'll sell out his country to the fascists (the way the elites did in the 1940's) to avoid having to fight.
First they arrest the police.
Next step on the road to decline: the French version of Abu Ghraib.
Then they'll fire Sarkozy.
Time for those gendarmes to go to Las Vegas for a little R&R, and leave Chirac to figure out how else he might address this. I'd be furious, too. Such a jackass.
We have a Sheboyganite cell in Michigan as well.
"But the hell that broke loose appears to be pretty coordinated...who gave the "go" sign? Looking at the French map, outbreaks seem widespread throughout the country. How are these different "cells" (for want of a better word) coordinating with one another?"
The latest conspiracy theory is that Chirac is being punished for siding with the U.S. against Syria. Iran wants France to butt out of Syria and to stop sheltering Syrians who want to rat on Assad. According to the theory, Iranian-controlled Hezbollah agents organized the rebellion and supplied the rioters with cell-phones, cars, petrol, etc.
I think Sarkozy is cut from the Truman/Churchill/Roosevelt(Teddy)/Rudy mold. I hope France looks to him before going to the extreme right (Le Pen).
Quietly reassign them -- to the PD next door.
Ja think that Inspector Clouseau will ever get this figured out?
I think rather than a new element, that is a good name for one of those funguses the French like to eat so much...the one that makes them dull-witted and passive.
It's the Frenchest thing - Chirac didn't even come out of hiding until the riots had been going on for over a week, and ever since he has, he's done nothing but make the situation worse. He couldn't wait to get his mug all over the media to gloat about the aftermath of Katrina.
Personally I almost hope the cops just walk off the job and let the Muslims have their way. The French government, and the French people, have shown they're not worthy of any protection at all. They deserve nothing more than to be put to the sword and/or the burqa for the craven, sniveling cowards they are.
We do. Anyone messes with my car gets their head blown off by my Remington. Any questions?
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.