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Posted on 11/08/2005 3:10:54 AM PST by Dane
French youths riot again Tue Nov 8, 2005 10:16 AM GMT
Villepin announces curfews French officials, community leaders
By Tom Heneghan
PARIS (Reuters) - Youths rioted across France overnight, torching more than 1,000 vehicles, despite government plans to impose curfews to quell almost two weeks of unrest.
The protests, blamed on racism and unemployment, receded in the Paris region after shots were fired at police the previous night but continued unabated in other parts of France in the early hours of Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said.
Other countries watched nervously and some issued travel warnings. Five cars were torched overnight in Brussels, in addition to five set ablaze on Sunday, in what officials say might have been copycat attacks.
The renewed violence followed a warning by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin that he would take a firm line against lawbreakers, including reinforcements for police and curfews, not seen in France since the Algerian war of 1954-1962.
Villepin's cabinet met on Tuesday and approved the steps.
"Wherever it is necessary, prefects will be able to impose a curfew," Villepin said, referring to the senior officials responsible for security in departments around the country.
A town east of Paris imposed its own curfew on minors on Monday evening and another to the west of the capital organised citizens' patrols to help the police.
Villepin said 1,500 police and gendarmes would be brought in to back up the 8,000 officers already deployed in areas hit by unrest. He also promised to accelerate urban renewal programmes and outlined other plans to help young people in poor suburbs.
MIXED REACTION TO VILLEPIN PLANS
Mayors of riot-hit towns welcomed the tougher line, but some asked what another measure announced by Villepin -- extended powers for them -- would actually mean in practice.
"Every time they announce more powers for mayors, they cut the funds," complained Jean-Christophe Lagarde, mayor of the northeastern Paris suburb of Drancy.
Elisabeth Guigou, a Socialist deputy from the northeastern Paris suburbs, said that invoking a curfew law passed during the Algerian war was "not the best reference" for fighting unrest among youths mostly of North African Arab and African origin.
The left-wing daily Liberation recalled in an editorial that Jacques Chirac was elected president in 1995 after pledging to repair France's "social fracture".
"Chirac's reign is a tragic farce," it wrote.
The opposition Socialists said Villepin had not done enough to give hope to those people in areas hit by the unrest, which has involved poor whites as well as French-born citizens of Arab or African origin complaining of racism and unemployment.
"Beyond the necessary calls for order, what was missing in the prime minister's address was a social dimension, a message and precise commitments towards the people of these areas in difficulty," the Socialist Party said in a statement.
ANOTHER NIGHT OF VIOLENCE
France's conservative government has struggled to formulate a response that could halt the unrest, blamed by many youths on frustration over unemployment, harsh treatment by police and racism.
The violence has prompted warnings that the unrest could damage investment and tourism in France.
The Interior Ministry said 1,173 vehicles had been torched during the night, compared to 1,408 the previous night.
At least four police were hurt, compared with 36 on Sunday night. Some 330 rioters were detained.
In Toulouse, youths set fire to a bus and 21 cars, police said. At least two cars were set ablaze near Lille and two more in Strasbourg, Reuters reporters said.
Police said 14 cars were set alight in the Yvelines district west of Paris and 17 in Seine-Saint-Denis north of the capital, home to many Arab and African immigrants where the unrest began.
Officials in neighbouring Belgium played down the extent of the violence there, although there were also minor incidents of arson in Sint Niklaas in the north and Liege in the east.
"There were no riots. These were all very isolated incidents. Whoever set fire to the cars must have been influenced by the footage of what is going on in France," Brussels fire department spokesman Francis Boileau said.
(Additional reporting by Eric Faye in Paris)
Does Tiki carry a "man-bag" too? :)
He has a twin brother. Both well educated and articulate.
Obviously, I know less than nothing about football.......much to my sons lament!
When Blair did not get all mealy mouthed about the shooting of the suspected terrorist (who was innocent), he sent a message. We will shoot to kill and ask questions later.
As long as Blair maintains a tough posture the jihadists will be careful in England.
LOL I think we could make some money right here in the U.S. Let's do road tours of the worst ghetto's and rake in some $$$. People will pay to see anything, obviously!
A. "I Surrender."
Q. How many French soldiers does it take to defend Paris?
A. Don't know, it's never been tried.
Q: How do you confuse a French Soldier?
A: Give him a rifle and ask him to shoot it.
Q: What's the motto of the US Marine Corps?
A: Semper Fi (Always Faithful)
Q: What's the motto of the French Army?
A: Stop, drop, and run!
Q. What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up?
A. Their army.
Q: How can you identify a French Infantryman?
A: Sunburned armpits.
Q: What do you call a Frenchman advancing on Baghdad?
A: A salesman.
Q: Why do the French call their fighter the *Mirage*?
A: Because it doesn't really exist.
Q: What do you call a man who only needs body armour on his back?
A: Jacques Chirac
Q: What’s the new French flag look like?
A: A white cross emblazoned on a white background!
How they act now will determine whether they get the Paris treatment or not.
Would be great to see Forrester pull it out.....than again, so many Repubs and Dems are now one in the same.....spend, spend, spend......Sorry, I'm starting to get disillusioned; the two party system doesn't appear to be two party any more.....I live in NY and we have Pataki...just another moderate Dem.....The only real true fiscally conservative elected official I know is our county executive in Suffolk county, Steve Levy....and he is Dem......He didn't get my vote the first time, sure as hell will next time.....Ok I'm done with my rant.....
NJ is corrupt to the point that there is no difference between the dems and repubs. The repubs worked hard to get McGreevy elected. They liked the way they got payoffs to vote with him.
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The law abiding will obey that curfew. This then singles out those who are out after the curfew.
Zut alors! All I azk eez a pair of boots to lick. Zis iz too much to azk?
Terrif' map - thanks for posting. Question: Are the "looters" shouting "no justice, no peace'?
But they are only youths.. . .oui?
You are right in the ensuing post of yours.
Right now, IMHO, the battle seems quite pointed in perspective: One side views the "rioters" in purely socio-economic terms; the other side views the "rioters" in purely "values" as in moral codes, terms.
So really, it's a clash of "perspective" in how to deal with what is going on in France right now. The first group are usually academics and multi-culturalists viewing humans as manipulable cogs. Whereas the second group sees the "rioters" as conducting criminal behavior stemming from their belief systems, lack of values, and or religion -- as humans unwilling to adapt to the mores and codes of a civil society.
The first group looks to see what they can do economically to empower the "cogs", appeasement, some say. The second group says to capture and incarcerate the rioters, perhaps with rehabilitation in mind.
Right here, this clash, is exactly what is going on all around the world, including the US. Myron Magnet described it perfectly in his book "The Dream and the Nightmare".
The appeasement model involves "quotas" (which don't work) and lots and lots of social welfare, human social experimentation, and ultimately more laws. Create an "exception" for any group of people, and what results are more laws carved to "govern" and surround that group of "special" people.
This then creates a culture at war with each other -- between those given special treatment, and those not receiving the same.
The ICC is of the former group -- appeasers vaunting special rights for some based upon the ideology of "preferential treatments" due stemming from an academic view of "economically disadvantagement" as the reason for "core values" gone wrong. Thereby granting, saint status, to criminals.
Total car count is over 6000 cars.
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