Posted on 11/14/2005 7:24:01 AM PST by Dallas59
PARIS - The French Cabinet approved a bill Monday to extend the country's state of emergency for three months, while youths set schools ablaze and waged other scattered arson attacks across France.
Though the unrest is abating, the bill, if approved by parliament as expected, would allow a 12-day state of emergency to be prolonged until mid-February if needed. The emergency measures empower regions to impose curfews on minors, conduct house searches and take other steps to prevent unrest.
"It is a measure of protection and precaution," President Jacques Chirac said.
Chirac stressed that the measure was "temporary" and that regional officials would use it "only where it is strictly necessary." About 40 French towns, including France's third-largest city, Lyon, have used the measure to put curfews for minors into effect.
Overnight, the number of car-torchings — a barometer of the unrest — dropped again, with youths setting fire to 284 vehicles, compared with 374 the previous night, police said Monday. There were no clashes between police and rioters.
"The lull is confirmed," national police spokesman Patrick Hamon said. A week ago, 1,400 cars were burned in a single night.
The 18 nights of arson attacks and riots — set off by the accidental electrocution deaths of two teens who thought police were chasing them — began in Paris' poor suburbs, where many immigrants from North and West Africa live with their French-born children in high-rise housing projects.
France's worst unrest since the 1968 student-worker protests is forcing the country to confront decades of simmering anger over racial discrimination, crowded housing and unemployment.
In scattered attacks overnight Sunday-Monday, vandals in the southern city of Toulouse rammed a car into a primary school before setting the building on fire.
In northern France, arsonists set fire to a sports center in the suburb of Faches-Thumesnil and a school in the town of Halluin, the North regional government said.
A gas canister exploded inside a burning garbage can in the Alpine city of Grenoble, injuring two police officers, the national police said. Three officers were injured elsewhere.
From Sunday to Monday, 115 people were taken into custody, police said. Since the beginning of the unrest, 2,767 people have been arrested.
The French Federation of Insurance Companies gave a preliminary estimate for the total damage from the rioting — up to $234 million, including more than $23 million for torched cars.
Violence has decreased steadily since France declared a state of emergency Wednesday. The measure, unless extended, is set to end Nov. 20.
Government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said the bill approved by the Cabinet on Monday would leave open the possibility of ending the emergency measures before three months are up, if order is restored.
Officials already are turning their attention to helping riot-hit towns recover: European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso proposed Sunday that the European Union give $58 million to France, and said it could make up to $1.17 billion available in longer-term support for suburban jobs and social cohesion.
Later Monday, Chirac was to make a televised statement about the violence — his third public comment since the unrest began, the Elysee Palace said. His comments Monday to the Cabinet were reported to journalists by Cope, the spokesman.
In the next few days, France is expected to start deporting foreigners implicated in the violence, a plan by law-and-order Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy that has raised concerns among human rights groups, and questions among other ministers.
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said he agreed that illegal immigrants could be sent home, but not foreigners with permission to live in France.
"A French person who carried out a crime or a misdemeanor in France cannot be treated in one way while a foreigner with papers in order is treated in another," he told Europe-1 radio. "It's not possible."
There will be an Islamic independence movement within France. They will demand a piece of France to be Muslim. Watch.
Do you request others to shut up while speaking up yourself at every possible occasion?
- Do you ask others to respect agreements while systematically flaunting them yourself?
- Do you think Hitler was bad but Napoleon was good?
- Do you think De Gaulle liberated France?
- Do you vote for corrupt thieves and/or liars?
- Are you proud when companies from your country buy businesses abroad but you are opposed to the sale of your national companies to foreigners?
- Do you think a nation with a GDP 4 times less than yours should financially contribute more to the EU than your own country?
- Have you ever heard of Jacques Attali?
- Do you think 2 weeks of rioting and thousands of cars burnt, not mentioning schools etc., constitute "some isolated incidents"?
- Do you call Iraq an invasion and Ivory Coast a peacekeeping mission?
- Do you think healthcare and education are free because you never received a detailed bill with those items on them?
- Do you think Chirac and Sarkozy are right-wing politicians?
- Can you name two people who made poetry about seagulls?
- Do you think the UN should have more power and responsibilities?
- Do you approve of a commission deciding what words you may use and which ones should be excluded from your language?
- Do you think mimolette is a Dutch cheese?
- Is Total-Elf just a normal oil company in your opinion?
- Is Strasbourg the capital of the EU?
- Did Lance Armstrong dope himself?
If you answered "yes" to one question, you are possibly French.
If you answered "yes" to two questions, you are probably French.
If you answered "yes" to three questions or more, you are almost certainly French.
"A French person who carried out a crime or a misdemeanor in France cannot be treated in one way while a foreigner with papers in order is treated in another," he told Europe-1 radio. "It's not possible."
And why can't a foreigner be treated differently? Particularly a foreigner involved in a violent riot? Hey, don't we all burn cars when we go overseas? };-)
Oh, what the Hell...
- Do you request others to shut up while speaking up yourself at every possible occasion? NON.
- Do you ask others to respect agreements while systematically flaunting them yourself? IF I CAN GET AWAY WITH IT.
- Do you think Hitler was bad but Napoleon was good? OUI.
- Do you think De Gaulle liberated France? PARTLY.
- Do you vote for corrupt thieves and/or liars? WHO DOESN'T?
- Are you proud when companies from your country buy businesses abroad but you are opposed to the sale of your national companies to foreigners? ABSOLUMENT OUI.
- Do you think a nation with a GDP 4 times less than yours should financially contribute more to the EU than your own country? WHY NOT? THAT'S CALLED "HARD BARGAINING"
- Have you ever heard of Jacques Attali? QUI?
- Do you think 2 weeks of rioting and thousands of cars burnt, not mentioning schools etc., constitute "some isolated incidents"? NON.
- Do you call Iraq an invasion and Ivory Coast a peacekeeping mission? OUI.
- Do you think healthcare and education are free because you never received a detailed bill with those items on them? NON. THEY ARE NOT FREE. AND YOU GET A BILL. YOU SEND IT TO THE SECU AND THEY PAY IT.
- Do you think Chirac and Sarkozy are right-wing politicians? OUI.
- Can you name two people who made poetry about seagulls? NON.
- Do you think the UN should have more power and responsibilities? EH... IT'S NOT VERY EFFECTIVE... WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?
- Do you approve of a commission deciding what words you may use and which ones should be excluded from your language? OUI.
- Do you think mimolette is a Dutch cheese? NON.
- Is Total-Elf just a normal oil company in your opinion? OUI.
- Is Strasbourg the capital of the EU? NON. BUT IT'S THE CENTER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT.
- Did Lance Armstrong dope himself? OF COURSE.
8 1/2 YESSES.
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