Posted on 11/21/2005 10:12:00 AM PST by SmithL
WASHINGTON -- The violence that swept predominantly Muslim communities in some 300 cities and towns in France for three weeks has abated and "we are back to normal," French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte said Monday.
He said mostly teenagers had acted out of social and economic hardship. "It was not about the role of Islam in France," he said.
"We never saw any link, direct or indirect," the French diplomat said. "Religion played no role."
"We know that jihadists are recruiting teenagers, but this has nothing to do with the general unrest in those neighborhoods," he said. The teenagers want to be considered 100 percent French, he said. "They want full equality."
Levitte also suggested "the word 'riot' is a bit too strong" to describe the disturbances and that while thousands of automobiles were destroyed and scores of police officers injured, there were only a handful of fatalities, in contrast to the 1992 Los Angeles riots that left 55 people dead and $1 billion in property damage.
The French have invoked those riots in the past, by way of criticizing U.S. policies. In 1992, then President Francois Mitterrand suggested that France would avoid such strife because of its generous social programs.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Back to the normal 90-100 cars burned a week.
Normal.
Snort.
Translation: There are no more Peugeots and Renaults left to burn.
In the Words of Moses Horowitz [Moe Howard of "The Three Stooges"]:
"You'll NEVER be That!"
"white, white, and white flags"
Heads buried firmly in the sand.
sucks to be french
Nothing to see here...move along...
GM can use this opportunity to sell some cars.
Back to normal? That is part of your problem frog.
S.N.A.F.U. Bump!
"No, I am not scared and neither should you be!"
Paris Headline
"France Achieves Cleaner Air - Chirac "Automobile Reduction Plan" Results in 10% less Auto Fumes, Chides US for Dirty Air in Los Angeles"
Religion had NO role? NO ROLE?
These people have their heads so far up their derrieres it's pathetic!
YEAH i guess this is normal
French Guard Dies Trying to Put Out Cars By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 21, 9:49 AM ET
A high school guard suffered a heart attack and died Monday while trying to extinguish cars set aflame by vandals in the latest unrest in troubled French suburbs, police said.
The guard collapsed southwest of Paris in Trappes, one of about 300 cities and towns that were hit by three weeks of rioting, arson attacks or other violence that shook France earlier this month.
While the violence has abated, sporadic arson attacks continue, as they did before the rioting. Police say dozens of cars are torched each night on average in France's depressed suburbs where frustrations over unemployment and discrimination often run high, especially among youths from immigrant families.
On Sunday, youths in a public housing project in the eastern city of Colmar threw stones at firefighters called in to extinguish burning scooters, said Jean-Christophe Schneider, a regional spokesman. No one was injured, but the windshield of the rescuers' vehicle was smashed.
President Jacques Chirac, as part of renewed government efforts to combat the inequalities laid bare by the riots, meets Tuesday with business and labor leaders and national TV executives to discuss ways of hiring young people from poor neighborhoods and airing more programs that reflect France's racial diversity.
The rioting began Oct. 27 and peaked early this month with vandals torching more than 1,400 cars in one night. The government responded by declaring a state of emergency that is still in place. It allows authorities to impose curfews, conduct searches of homes and take other measures to prevent unrest if needed.
Several mosques have been attacked or vandalized — in what Muslim leaders fear is a possible anti-immigrant backlash from the rioting.
On Sunday, authorities discovered racist and extremist slogans — including one that said "defend yourself, France" — spray-painted on a mosque being built in Saint-Etienne in the southeast.
Larbi Marchiche, who heads a Moroccan cultural association overseeing the mosque construction, called the vandalism "a provocation by brainless kids."
In a separate incident Sunday, attackers armed with two Molotov cocktails damaged a mosque in a low-income area in the eastern town of Fougeres.
Police are investigating the mosque attacks and the death of the high school guard. Police spokesman Alain Rahmouni said there were no arrests so far in the last case.
During the urban unrest, the worst in four decades in France, rioters torched more than 9,000 vehicles and several hundred buildings and repeatedly clashed with police. Several mosques, churches and a synagogue were also targeted.
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