Posted on 10/12/2006 5:51:12 AM PDT by WmShirerAdmirer
Muslims accused of attacking French police PARIS, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- French police say radical Muslims of North Africa origin, living in poor housing estates, are targeting officers in what they call an "intifada" campaign.
Such attacks are injuring an average of 14 officers every day, reports Britain's Daily Telegraph. France's Interior Ministry said about 2,500 officers have been targeted this year.
One police union was quoted as saying there exists a state of civil war waged by unemployed youths living in the densely populated low-income housing projects. The union is asking the government to provide its officers with armored cars.
The head of another police union disagreed with the intifada assessment, saying the growing violence against officers is proof that the policy of "retaking territory" from criminal gangs is working, the report said.
By DAVID RENNIE - The Daily Telegraph October 5, 2006
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Muslims in France's housing estates are waging an undeclared "intifada" against the police, with violent clashes injuring an average of 14 officers each day.
As the interior ministry said that nearly 2,500 officers had been wounded this year, a police union declared that its members were "in a state of civil war" with Muslims in the most depressed banlieue estates which are heavily populated by unemployed youths of north African origin.
It said the situation was so grave that it had asked the government to provide police with armored cars to protect officers in the estates, which are becoming no-go zones. The number of attacks has risen by a third in two years. Police representatives told the newspaper Le Figaro that the "taboo" of attacking officers on patrol has been broken.
The interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also the leading center-right candidate for the presidency, has sent heavily equipped units into areas with orders to regain control from drug smuggling gangs and other organized crime rings. Such aggressive raids were "disrupting the underground economy in the estates," one senior official told Le Figaro.
However, not all officers on the ground accept that essentially secular interpretation. The secretary general of the hardline Action Police trade union, Michel Thoomis, has written to Mr. Sarkozy warning of an "intifada" on the estates and demanding that officers be given armored cars in the most dangerous areas.
However, Gerard Demarcq, of the largest police unions, Alliance, dismissed talk of an "intifada" as representing the views of only a minority.
Mr. Demarcq said the increased attacks on officers were proof that the policy of "retaking territory" from criminal gangs was working.
Mayors in the worst affected suburbs, which saw weeks of riots and car-burning a year ago, have expressed fears of a vicious circle, as attacks by locals lead the police to harden their tactics, further increasing resentment.
As if to prove that point, angry reactions came in the western Paris suburb of Les Mureaux following dawn raids in search of youths who attacked a police unit on Sunday. The raids led to one arrest.
http://www.nysun.com/article/40961
and so it begins
and so it continues...
This extensive article was written in 1997 and almost 10 years later the above article is the results. Note the first paragraph.
Islam in France: The French Way of Life Is in Danger
by Michel Gurfinkiel
Middle East Quarterly
March 1997
http://www.meforum.org/article/337
American visitors to Paris or other major French cities often are amazed when they see how the multiethnic way of life there resembles that in the United States.
Some see this as positive: in a Newsweek cover story, John Leland and Marcus Mabry assert that a "new creative energy -- in terms of art and music -- is bursting out of the multiethnic suburbs" of France.1 Others are more pessimistic, pointing to La Haine (Hate), a movie about immigrant or minority teenagers in Marseilles that tells a story of street violence and confrontation with the police that brings the 1992 Los Angeles riots to mind.
(Body of Article is quite long but very informative)
Conclusion
In sum, a growing proportion of non-Muslim French find the prospect of Islamization less shocking than would have their more patriotic-minded forefathers. On the other hand, the scope of the immigration and Islamization process may bring about a backlash. According to a December 1995 survey carried out by CSA and published in La Vie, a liberal Catholic weekly, 70 percent of the French are "afraid of religious fundamentalism" and a further 66 percent think that "fundamentalism is more prevalent in some religions than in others." As even La Vie's editors had to recognize, perhaps reluctantly, the issue here is not fundamentalism as such but Islam, both fundamentalist and moderate: "The French do believe today in a specific political-religious threat. And Islam, quite probably, is what first comes to their minds."30 Concern about Islamization is an important element in the rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen's far-Right party, the National Front, but is much broader in scope and has compelled the mainstream parties to echo portions of Le Pen's program (he calls for the deportation of all aliens, they call for a tightening of the very liberal immigration or naturalization laws).
Every community has the right to uphold and protect its way of life, so long as minorities' rights are protected as well. Not so long ago, this consideration applied primarily to colonial areas threatened by the industrial West. Arguably, it applies to Western industrial nations as well, should they be threatened by mass immigration. In the case at hand, the main point is not whether mosques may be built or if hallal food may be distributed; but whether polygamy is to be tolerated and the police to operate in Muslim neighborhoods. In other words, Islam ought to adapt to the traditional French way of life, with its emphasis on individual freedom and secularism, rather than the reverse.
The current debate about immigration in America is much more about ethnicity and language than about religion. Still, many lessons may be drawn from the case of France.
Muslim Immigration to France
Most Muslims living in France are either North African immigrants or their offspring. Their presence in France results directly from French colonial rule over the three Maghreb countries (Algeria from 1830 to 1962, Tunisia 1881-1956, and Morocco 1912-1956).
Although a few Muslim subjects immigrated to France even before 1914, substantial numbers came only with the Great War. Three hundred thousand North Africans were drafted, two-thirds as soldiers in various units of colonial troops (Chasseurs indigènes, Infanterie de Marine, Tirailleurs Sénégalais, Tirailleurs Algériens, Tirailleurs Marocains, Spahis) and one-third as workers in the armament industry. Many were killed or died of disease, others were forcibly sent home after 1918, but more than eighty thousand stayed in France. Their presence won symbolic recognition in 1920, when parliament passed a law funding a Great Mosque in Paris (a law that, incidentally, directly contradicted the 1905 law prohibiting public funding for religious organizations).
In 1936, the Socialist-led government of Léon Blum lifted all limitations to travel and residence for North African Muslims, leading to an influx of immigrants from there. World War II repeated the Great War's pattern, especially after the Allied powers took North Africa in 1942; some one hundred thousand Muslims were drafted into the Free French Army in Italy, many of whom ended up in France. Right after the war, Algerian Muslims arrived to take industrial jobs. In 1962, when Algeria, the oldest and the largest territory of French North Africa, achieved independence, France had a Muslim population of 400,000.
In less than ten years that number doubled. First came the Harkis, or the Français-Musulmans of Algeria, 250,000 draftees in a Muslim auxiliary force who served in the colonial war against the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) from 1954 to 1962. Most of those unfortunate loyalists were simply left behind in 1962, a deliberate and dreadful decision that meant torture and death for them at the hand of the winners. Some 20,000, however, were transferred to France, along with their families: almost overnight, French Islam acquired a new community of 75,000 souls. Housed in distant rural villages, secluded both from the mainstream Muslim immigrants and the French but legally deemed to be full-range French citizens, the Harkis doubled their numbers by the end of the decade.
Secondly, some former FLN fighters, either Berber-speakers from the Kabyles or disenchanted members of the new elite, were also allowed to settle in France as (most ironically) "repatriated citizens." In 1967 alone, no less than 127,000 Algerian Muslims came to France to stay permanently. Clearcut provisions of citizenship and travel were not defined until 1968.
Thirdly, in 1962-1974, with government approval and under government supervision, a booming French industry hired half a million migrant workers (travailleurs immigrés), chiefly from Algeria and Morocco but also from Tunisia. Almost to a man, they stayed in France. French corporations saw this economic immigration as a tool to keep industrial wages low; the French government used it as a bargaining chip in relations with the North African states, particularly oil-rich Algeria. More emigrants to France brought them two advantages: less pressure in an already depressed employment market and a sustained flow of remittances in hard currency.
By 1973, the total North African population of France in all probability had exceeded one million. When Valery Giscard d'Estaing became president of the republic in May 1974, right after the Yom Kippur War and the oil shock, he was quite concerned about this number. He earnestly tried to reverse the trend, first by formally putting an end to the economic immigration policy, then by initiating a policy to repatriate (or "reemigrate") the migrant workers from North Africa. He failed miserably in both efforts, however, for the utter ideological incorrectness of these policies, in terms of both domestic politics and foreign policy, required so many qualifications that the entire scheme was rendered unworkable. For instance, the measures of July 3, 1974, were articulated in such as way as to infringe neither on human rights nor family rights: however unwelcome they were, migrants actually received new subsidies for housing, welfare, and education. They also won permission to bring in their relatives -- even polygamous wives.
The efforts of Giscard d'Estaing brought about another dramatic increase in Muslim population, so that by 1981, when François Mitterrand became president, some 2 million North African Muslims lived in France. For the most part, they were either French citizens themselves or the parents of French citizens. In retrospect, French Islam reached a critical mass at this time, becoming a permanent element of French national life.
The Muslim numbers continued to grow during Mitterrand's presidency, 1981-1995. Some attempts were made to curb illegal immigration more effectively, but by then the Socialists and Conservatives feared that too much posturing on this issue would further fuel the rise of the far Right, namely Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front. Immigration from Morocco and Tunisia stabilized or dropped, as citizens of these countries increasingly went to other European countries (especially Spain, Italy, and Belgium). In contrast, immigration from Algeria to France increased with the economic and political difficulties of that country. Immigration, legal and not, from other Muslim countries also increased, particularly from the former Senegal, Mali, the Comoros, Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan. Natural increase was more important than immigration, however, for "reunited" families now outnumbered single males.
Michel Gurfinkiel is editor in chief of Valeurs Actuelles, France's leading conservative weekly newsmagazine. A specialist in international affairs, he has recently written Israel: Geopolitique d'une Paix (Michalon, 1996) and Geopolitique de la Criminalite (La Documentation française/Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Securite Interieure, 1996).
so they have finally went from "rioting youths" to muslims..................about time.
Resistable force meets moveable object.
All wounds inflicted were on the back sides of the French police. RUN AWAY!!!!!!!
< /sarc...in case anyone doubts it...>
My best friend was talking about how we used to dream of going to Europe when we were teens back in the 80's and how we wanted to go see the European culture and sights. She mentioned the other week that now we could maybe afford to go after all these years. I had to inform her that Scotland, Britain and the Netherlands are NOT what they used to be. France for certain. She didn't believe me and investigated on her own the muslim population and read how Old World neighborhoods are now muslim slums and dangerous. I think she cried at the missed opportunity.
You know something big is cooking when Euroweenies are finally willing to name this enemy...
And their use of the word "intifada" is also very telling...
I'm dismayed at this too, since Paris and France have always been in my fture travel plans.
Just a matter of time before this happens here.
>>>Just a matter of time before this happens here.>>>
In certain parts of the country, maybe. But the Europeans have always prided themselves at not being as vulgar and crass as the 'uncultured' Americans (I'm reading a book of my daughter's now that is commenting on the Americans and this is from the perspective of a poor British orphan! And she thought the wealthy Americans were uncouth!) But that vulgarity and crassness has kept the muslims from attempting the same here. For now.
You are a very wise, and kind, friend. You doubtlessly saved her for a great deal of heartache, and possibly even something far worse.
Woudl you tell us the title and/or author of the book? I'd like to look it up.
French police were quoted as saying, "Not in the face. Not in the face!!!"
Like anything travel related, there is the 30K foot view and the ground view. Yes these problems do exists - riots and car burnings - but like in our own cities such incidents are mostly confined to neighborhoods and nearby suburbs of large cities. (Speaking about Europe in general. I don't know about France and Belgium specifically in recent years.) Please look into it a bit more, I'd hate to see a long term dream be denied. You may find that the downtowns and the sights you want to see are still safe and away from the problem areas. Most of the small towns and rural areas are likely safe also. Much like visiting LA, Seattle, NY or DC. Each of those cities have some dangerous areas but a tourist is unlikely to encounter them. Avoid local transportation outside of main visitor zones, but the long haul city to city trains should be fine.
Some cities may be a problem for visitors, but they are few and far inbetween and with a little bit of research you should be able to have a safe fantastic trip.
I'd like to see some of the cowboys on this thread go-up against the French Police. (Let's just say they are less constrained by the law).
In 10 years maybe as in France, or sooner?
I was in Paris this summer when the World Cup soccer final was played. When Italy scored the goal that tied the game the French people on the Champs Eleysee went crazy nuts. We were walking toward the Place de la Concorde and the police wagons came rolling out. Four of them had the giant water cannons on them. They actually do take care of business.
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