Posted on 11/03/2005 9:00:21 AM PST by West Coast Conservative
Rioting youths shot at police and firefighters Thursday after burning car dealerships and public buses and hurling rocks at commuter trains. France's government faced growing pressure to curb the violence, fueled by anger over poor conditions in suburban Paris housing projects.
Rampaging for an eighth day, youths ignored an appeal for calm from French President Jacques Chirac, whose government worked feverishly to fend off a political crisis amid criticism that it has ignored problems in suburbs heavily populated by first- and second-generation North African and Muslim immigrants.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called a string of emergency meetings with Cabinet ministers throughout the day. He told the Senate the government "will not give in" to violence in the troubled suburbs.
"Order and justice will be the final word in our country," Villepin said. "The return to calm and the restoration of public order are the priority _ our absolute priority."
The riots started last Thursday after the electrocution deaths of two teenagers hiding in a power station from police they believed were chasing them in the northeastern suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.
By Wednesday night, violence had spread to at least 20 Paris-region towns, said Jean-Francois Cordet, the top government official for the Seine-Saint-Denis region north of Paris where the violence has been concentrated. He said youths in the region fired four shots at riot police and firefighters but caused no injuries.
Nine people were injured in Seine-Saint-Denis and 315 cars burned across the Paris area, officials said. In the tough northeastern suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois, youth gangs set fire to a Renault car dealership and burned at least a dozen cars, a supermarket and a local gymnasium.
Traffic was halted Thursday morning on a suburban commuter line linking Paris to Charles de Gaulle airport after stone-throwing rioters attacked two trains overnight at the Le Blanc-Mesnil station. They forced a conductor from one train and broke windows, the SNCF rail authority said. A passenger was lightly injured by broken glass.
The unrest has highlighted the division between France's big cities and their poor suburbs, with frustration simmering in the housing projects in areas marked by high unemployment, crime and poverty.
The violence also cast doubt on the success of France's model of seeking to integrate its large immigrant community _ its Muslim population, at an estimated 5 million, is Western Europe's largest _ by playing down differences between ethnic groups. Rather than feeling embraced as full and equal citizens, immigrants and their French-born children complain of police harassment and of being refused jobs, housing and opportunities.
Opposition groups accused the government of letting the situation spiral out of control, either by failing to act quickly enough or letting in too many immigrants over the years.
"We see that the situation in certain neighborhoods is not getting better at all but degenerating," Socialist Party President Jean-Marc Ayrault told LCI television, who said Chirac's conservatives "did not know how to take control."
Right-wing French lawmaker Philippe de Villiers, who has said he wants to "stop the Islamization of France," told RTL radio that the problem stemmed from the "failure of a policy of massive and uncontrolled immigration."
Minister of Social Cohesion Jean-Louis Borloo said the government had to react "firmly" but added that France must also acknowledge its failure to have dealt with anger simmering in poor suburbs for decades.
"We cannot hide the truth: that for 30 years we have not done enough," he told France-2 television.
"..fueled by anger over poor conditions in suburban Paris housing projects."
They were pretty poor before the Muslims moved in, too. The French poor probably preferred traditional crime to civil unrest.
"Minister of Social Cohesion"
If that doesn't work, try Social Coercion.
French Rioters - interesting, it looks more like groups of Muslim terrorist terrorizing the French people, but who am I to pass judgement.
I hope the French can get a hold of the "french rioters" before they decide to start killing non-believers.
these aren't rioters ;they are freedom fighters .....insugents.... the French have not tried hard enough to win their hearts and minds . If only Chirac had let them wear their burkas to school...........
Right-wing French lawmaker Philippe de Villiers, who has said he wants to "stop the Islamization of France," told RTL radio that the problem stemmed from the "failure of a policy of massive and uncontrolled immigration." ==
He got it right. Some culture just uncompatible with west.
Thanks penelope.
Pray for W and Our Troops
The racist and nazi-fascist policies of the french state, combined with state-terrorism against defenseless minorities, have created this culture of resentment. It is time for the french to recognize that their occupation of Paris is illegal, have no historical basis, and accept a "land for peace" plan which will eventually end up in the creation of a islamic State side-by-side with the french. And the UN is the most prepared institution to oversee this process.
Shooting? Not to worry....the Frogs have no experience with combat, wars, or firearms (since they live in a gun control nirvana anyway). Just wait awhile and they'll surrender.
Ahhh yes. But why is it that whenever I try and point this out to my socialist peers (liberal educators) they snort and reply that this is possible only because the right people haven't been in charge.... in the past.
Ok thanks. Now they can barter...with the Islams.
Predicting the surrender before Christmas says that the US will have troops on the ground in France before Christmas.
The US cannot afford to let the rioters get away with a lot of the French nukes. Along with all the French nuke plants and probably all the reprocessed fuel available in the country.
My bet is on a very harsh clamp down on the rioting, and total media blackout just before it happens.
Q: What do you call a French soldier entering at the head of a conquering army?
A: A P.O.W.
Q: What award does the French military give to it's soldiers for heroism?
A: Insubordination charges.
Dear Trav:
Not only do they not want to assimilate, a recent survey of British Muslims indicate 60% of them want Sharia imposed and 30% said they supported terrorism. When you take Muslims into your midst, you are embracing your own destruction. Maybe Europe will wake up before it is too late, but I have my doubts.
"these aren't rioters ;they are freedom fighters .....insugents."
Hahaha! Givin' the French a taste of their own medicine. :)
The Frogs crack down hard when they finally do crack down. In '68 De Gualle surrounded Paris with several infantry and armored divisions and was quite prepared to take the country to civil war. The rioting leftwing students of the Sorbonne and other universities and their trade union allies backed down when they saw the government and the people were willing to wipe them out.
Here is one link where some right thinking French are discussing their stupid left wing government..lol. If you scroll down there is a post discussing how many French Muslim bloogers are egging it all on.
http://no-pasaran.blogspot.com/
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