I have a solution:
Posted on 11/06/2005 5:07:47 AM PST by Dane
Thousand cars torched in latest French riots Sun Nov 6, 2005 12:17 PM GMT
By Elisabeth Pineau
PARIS (Reuters) - Gangs of youths torched 1,300 vehicles overnight in the 10th consecutive night of violence in Paris's poor suburbs and major French towns, despite the deployment of thousands of extra police.
Cars were burnt out in the historic centre of Paris for the first time on Saturday night. In the normally quiet Normandy town of Evreux, a shopping mall, 50 vehicles, a post office and two schools went up in flames.
Authorities have so far found no way beyond appeals and more police to address a problem with complex social, economic and racial causes.
Evreux mayor Jean-Louis Debre, a confidant of President Jacques Chirac and speaker of the lower house of parliament, told France Info radio:
"To those responsible for the violence, I want to say: Be serious ... If you want to live in a fairer, more fraternal society, this is not how to go about it."
The deaths 10 days ago of two youths apparently fleeing police ignited pent up frustrations among young men, many of them Muslims of North and black African origin, at racism, unemployment, their marginal place in French society and their treatment by the police.
"Many youths have never seen their parents work and couldn't hold down a job if they got one," said Claude Chevallier, manager of a burned-out carpet depot in the rundown Paris suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois.
But authorities now say the rolling nightly riots are being organised via the Internet and mobile phones, and have pointed the finger at drug traffickers and Islamist militants.
Overnight, 1,295 vehicles were torched across France, the highest total so far, police said. An extra 2,300 officers have been drafted in.
Seven police helicopters buzzed over the Paris region through the night, filming disturbances and directing mobile squads to incidents. Overnight, police made 349 arrests.
The number of incidents in the Paris region was similar to the night before, but in the provinces it was up sharply.
TARNISHED IMAGE
The violence has tarnished France's image abroad, forcing Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to cancel a trip to Canada, while Russia and the United States have warned their citizens to avoid Paris's troubled suburbs.
Villepin has combined a call for an end to the riots with dialogue with community leaders, youngsters and local officials, and has promised an action plan for 750 tough neighbourhoods.
"I'll make proposals as early as this week," the weekly Journal du Dimanche quoted him as saying.
But it remained unclear what could stop the violence, though some opposition parties have suggested a symbolic measure -- the resignation of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
Accused of stoking passions by calling troublemakers "scum", Sarkozy has ignored calls to quit. A survey published on Sunday indicated his public image was holding up, even if many disapproved of his strong language.
Villepin also has ambitions to be the right wing's presidential candidate in 2007 and has tried to position himself as a much more consensual figure than Sarkozy; the effect on the crisis on his ratings is still unclear.
With no end in sight to the nights of wailing sirens, acrid smoke, stone-throwing and destruction, residents from all ethnic backgrounds are tiring of the unrest.
"My kids can't sleep at night," said a mother named Samia in Aulnay-sous-Bois. "They hear explosions, they see fires and they think they're in a war. When the slightest thing happens, they get anxious and say 'Mama, what's going on?'"
I was there at the millenium. Paris keeps moving my impressionists. Been there three times to see them and each time, they are either on tour, in renovation or being moved somewhere. Sacre Bleu.
The Tour D'Eiffel is an erector project by a big kid. I believe the French hated it. But then New York hated the Brooklyn Bridge until it was completed.
My favorite monument is Joan of Arc. Now there is a real man!
Are you alright? Are you safe? Do you need anything?
I don't know the status....as Fox can't seem to cover the French riot/terrorism for very long....it doesn't fit in their "news" schedule.
You don't frighten us, pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottom, sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you! I don't wanna talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries! Now, go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!
In Fox's defense, they do not have free access in France. The media especially broadcast media in France is essentially state controlled.
[...8 mayors of affected areas "sacrified their Sunday morning...]
I thought overtime was illegal in France.
Oh; I didn't know that. But you needn't defend Fox too much; this is their m.o. anyways....sadly, it's more tabloid than news they cover....
Where the Cathedral of Notre Dame is located, beautiful Cathedral, BTWYes, it is beautiful. I went to France in high school.
It would be a tragedy if some of the culture/architecture was destroyed.
Oops! Reread your post. You say you were visiting. I thought at first that you lived in Paris. So I will assume you are safe and do not need anything.
I have a solution:
I swear, it's almost as bad as it was trying to get information about that train explosion in North Korea.
Well at least Fox is reporting. CNN and MSNBC about hearing the news from their paradise France, probably have their hands up to their ears shouting, lalalalalalalala, I don't hear you.
That's what people always do when they hear/see things that don't agree with their wishes. Human nature. Unfortunately, the alphabet channels are SUPPOSED TO BE UNBIASED REPORTERS of NEWS....that CLEARLY is not true.
HA! msnbc ran a canned headlines and legends story about Hillary! today....uuuunnnngggghhhhhh!!!
Does anyone have a live feed or any info from ground zero in Paris.
I am surprised that, given the poverty of the rioters, there hasn't been a lot of looting. These guys seem to be staying on a consistent plan of burn and destroy.
ROFL.............. You needed a "may spit" with laughter warning with that post.
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