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Oct / Nov 2005 - French Riots - a pattern emerges
'a strategy of tension'

ancient history: 1995 bombings in France

In 1995, the GIA Islamist militant group staged a series of attacks against the French public, targeting public transportation. These attacks killed 8 and injured more than 100. Apparently, the attacks were designed to be a broadening of the civil war in Algeria, a former French colony.

On July 25, 1995, a gas bottle exploded in station Saint Michel of line B of the RER (Paris regional train network). 8 were killed and 80 wounded.

On August 17, a bomb at the Arc de Triomphe wounded 17 people. On August 26, a huge bomb was found on the railroad tracks of a high-speed rail line near Lyon. On September 3, a bomb malfunctioned in a square in Paris, wounding 4. On September 7, a car bomb at a Jewish school in Lyons wounded 14.

A leader of the group, Khaled Kelkal, was identified through fingerprints left on unexploded bombs. He was killed on September 29 by members of the French EPIGN gendarmerie unit when allegedly resisting arrest in hills near Lyon.

Yet the attacks continued. On October 6, a gas bottle exploded in station Maison Blanche of the Paris Métro, wounding 13. On October 17, a gas bottle exploded in the Orsay station of RER Line B, wounding 29.

Members of the groups have since been prosecuted for various charges. A number of suspects have fled to the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom had declined to extradite suspect Rachid Ramda, citing possible mistreatment of informants and an alleged impossibility for a Muslim suspect to obtain a fair trial in France. However, on December 1, 2005, Rachid Ramda was extradited to France in connection with the bombing on the Paris Metro (BBC News). It is widely alleged outside of the United Kingdom that the earlier reluctance to extradite terror suspects and the toleration of radical islamist cells on British soil was meant to avoid terror acts on British soil itself. (New-York Times, Le Figaro). It is yet unknown what the impact of the July 2005 London bombings will have on that question.

See also

External links

Update: Mastermind of Paris Metro bombings jailed

By Simon Freeman and agencies - March 29, 2006 - .timesonline.co.uk

Rachid Ramda was today sentenced to ten years in prison for bankrolling an Algerian terror group which bombed the Paris Metro in 1995, killing eight people and injuring 200.

Ramda's short trial began a few weeks after he was returned to France from Britain in December, following an extradition battle which lasted for more than a decade.

The sentence is the maximum which can be imposed for the charges, which related only to the preparation of the attacks by Armed Islamic Group (GIA), a banned Algerian terror organisation. Ramda, 36, now faces a second trial for his alleged role in carrying out bombings, for which he faces life imprisonment.

Ramda fled to Britain and applied for asylum under an assumed name soon after the outlawed group carried out its worst attack, an attempt to derail a TGV high-speed train travelling from Lyons to Paris.

Since his arrest in November 1995 he has used a wide array of legal means to resist extradition.

In 1993 he was sentenced to death in absentia in Algeria over an attack on Algiers airport that left 9 dead and 123 wounded.

Dominique de Villepin, the French Prime Minister, had earlier lobbied Mr Blair for a speedy resolution to the saga in their first meeting after the July 7 bombings in London.

"Can you imagine how the British would react if France caught the alleged moneyman behind the July 7 bombings, and ten years later he was still fighting extradition?" said a former senior officer with the General Directorate for External Security, France's foreign intelligence service.

The Metro bombings were carried out between July and November 1995, killing 8 and injuring 170. The bombs consisted of explosives and nails.

Responsibility was claimed by the Armed Islamic Group, which was engaged in guerrilla war against the Algerian authorities. One of the suspects, Ali Touchent, was killed in Algiers in 1997.

Flashback: after the London bombs: France raises terror alert

07/07/2005 - The French government today raised its terror alert system to the second-highest level after the series of explosions in London, said Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. The alert level was changed immediately to red, moving up one notch on a four-level scale, the prime minister said. Scarlet is the highest warning level. Villepin expressed his "deepest solidarity" with the British people following the explosions. - iol.ie

There are also Troops on the streets in Paris

also summer 2005... 'immigrants' in France died from fires that started in one of the many confined spaces with no fire exits or safety equipment.

Fire rips through Paris apartment block leaving 17 immigrants dead

By Marc Burleigh in Paris Published: 27 August 2005

The fire in a rundown Paris apartment block which killed 17 African immigrants, including up to 14 children, was a "ghastly catastrophe", President Jacques Chirac said.

The blaze began close to midnight on Thursday, trapping many of the residents in the six-storey building in the city's south-east 13th district as they were asleep. Many were injured jumping from windows in panic. - independent.co.uk

One more fire, six more victims in Paris

30th August 2005

Six people, including a 6-year-old child, were killed when a fire broke out in a rundown Paris apartment building where African immigrants were living, firefighters said Tuesday.

The latest fire comes just days after a deadly blaze killed 17 Africans in the French capital.

Three other people had serious injuries in the fire, which started late Monday and tore through a six-story building in central Paris where Ivorian immigrants were living, firefighters said.

Some 11 people, including five firefighters, had light injuries.

On Friday, 14 children and three adults were killed in a blaze in southeastern Paris at a rundown apartment building that housed African immigrants. The fire focused attention on the plight of poor immigrants in Paris and drew angry calls for action on behalf of the needy.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy pointed to overcrowding as a reason for the high death toll of that blaze and ordered an inventory of dangerous and overcrowded buildings. - news from russia

Another Paris fire kills seven, including four children

2005-08-30 - A Blaze tore through a Paris apartment building where African immigrants lived, killing seven people, including four children. It was the second deadly fire in a week at buildings housing immigrants in France's capital, and the third since April.

The three blazes, with a total of 48 victims, have focused attention on the plight of Paris' poor and their overcrowded lodgings.

In the latest fire, one of the victims was a 6-year-old child whose mother threw him out a fifth-story window to try to save him from the flames, police said. The boy later died at a hospital. The bodies of the mother, who was pregnant, and her 3-year-old child were found in the burned-out wreckage.

On the same floor, firefighters found a second family in the charred building: a woman - pregnant with twins - her husband and their two children, police said.

Two men were seriously injured by leaping from the building to escape the blaze, which started late Monday and ripped through a six-story building in the 3rd Arrondissment of central Paris where Ivorian immigrants lived, firefighters said.

Eleven people, including five firefighters, had slight injuries.

Just days ago, a deadly blaze killed 17 Africans in Paris. Four months earlier, 24 people died in a similar fire at a budget hotel that housed African immigrants.

French President Jacques Chirac urged investigators to work diligently and said the government would take "strong initiatives" soon to help families in inadequate housing.

"I want to stress how much this situation is unworthy of the natural requirements that we owe to people here in France, whatever their origin or nationality," he said on the sidelines of a meeting on French industry.

About 130 firefighters battled the blaze, which was believed to have started on the second floor of the building.

Police said they believed the fire was accidental. Residents had pirated electricity from a nearby building. Gas cylinders and bedding on the ground fueled the flames, police said.

About 40 to 60 people lived in the building, police said. Living conditions there were known by authorities to be "absolutely inadmissible and dangerous," said Pierre Aidenbaum, the district mayor. Aidenbaum said the city intervened to have the rundown building bought six months ago. He added that he started the process of searching for a place to relocate the families a month ago. Deputy Paris Mayor Yves Contassot said the building was taken over by squatters after its owner abandoned it. About half the families were illegal immigrants, he said. A woman who lived in a nearby building, Elisabeth Sevre, said the tenants were living in "frightening conditions" and that she often saw them taking water from a spigot on the street.

"We've known about this situation for four or five years," she said.

Socialist Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said his team had counted 1,000 unfit buildings in Paris when he became mayor in 2001.

"This situation has been around for decades," he said. "What we want is to attack this problem. We have been doing it for four and a half years."

On Friday, 14 children and three adults were killed in a blaze in southeastern Paris at a dilapidated apartment building that housed African immigrants. The fire drew angry calls for action on behalf of the needy. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy pointed to overcrowding as a reason for the high death toll of that blaze and ordered an inventory of dangerous and cramped buildings.

Officials have ruled out an electrical short circuit in that fire, and French police raised the possibility that the fire was caused by people, whether by accident or on purpose, the AP reports. - news from russia

Worldwide Anti-Terror laws

Flashback: in 2004; India was to repeal draconian anti terror laws - then in 2005 Boom! Bombs hit New Delhi... There is a pattern

Australian PM Howard reveals an imminant 'terror threat' as the Anti terror legislation is being debated: It gets passed on a mandate of fear...

In the UK the Anti - terror bill is debated as Riots & provocations hit Birmingham

Nicolas Sarkozy - Blairite? Neocon?

"He was a lawyer, so he seems close to the people, and he wants to show them that he understands their problems and that he will solve their problems."

Unlike most of the French ruling class, Mr Sarkozy did not go to the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, but trained as a barrister.

The son of a Hungarian immigrant, and a mother whose family was Greek and Jewish, he was never the classic insider. And unusually, one of his main political influences is not French but British, according to his other biographer, Nicolas Domenach.

"He admires Tony Blair hugely - for many reasons," he says.

"Tony Blair was able to seduce the media, in the way Sarkozy does. And Sarkozy looks at how Tony Blair was able to sell his political ideology."

The suspicion is that Mr Sarkozy simply wants to use the party leadership to further his own ambitions - and build up a power base for a presidential bid in 2007. - from a BBC profile

France plans new anti-terror law

26 October 2005 - The French government has backed a draft anti-terror bill proposing more powers to track suspects. The bill recommends increased use of video surveillance in stations and airports, and tougher sentences.

A BBC correspondent says Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has been keen to increase the powers available to the authorities since the London bombings.

French President Jacques Chirac supported the proposed bill saying that the country faced "a real threat". But there has been some criticism from civil liberties groups who have questioned the measures' effectiveness. Last month, Mr Sarkozy described the threat of a terrorist attack on Paris as "very high".

Telephone records

The BBC's Alasdair Sandford, in Paris, says Mr Sarkozy has been impressed by the success of closed-circuit footage in identifying the London suspects, and the new French measures provide for greater use of video surveillance in stations, airports and other public places.

Telephone operators would have to keep records for a year to help investigators' inquiries, and internet cafes would have to keep more detailed information.

The maximum prison sentence for associating with a terrorist organisation would be raised from 20 to 30 years. The bill is due to be debated in the French parliament next month. - bbc.co.uk

Civil rights group attacks tough new anti-terror law

Kim Willsher Thursday October 27, 2005 The Guardian - The French interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, was accused yesterday of attacking civil liberties after unveiling tough anti-terrorism laws that will increase video surveillance of the public, provide greater official access to phone and internet records and set longer jail terms.

The National Commission for Information and Liberty Clauses said there was a "serious risk to individuals' freedom" in the new law, which aims to pre-empt terror attacks by charging suspects with "intention" rather than definite action.

The bill will be put to the national assembly on November 22. - guardian.co.uk

strangely followed by
week of riots in France:
Ethnic baiting & disruption?

Paris hit by anti-police riots

By Antoine Lerougetel 2 November 2005

Two boys died on the evening of October 27 while fleeing from the police on a suburban council estate that houses poor and immigrant workers. The deaths of the boys, in Clichy-sous-Bois in Paris' northern suburbs, sparked violent confrontations between mainly immigrant youth and 400 to 500 riot police dispatched by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy.

Running battles between the youth and the police continued through the weekend. Some 70 cars and many rubbish bins were incinerated. The police fired around 150 rubber and plastic bullets and an unspecified number of tear gas canisters, and have continued to maintain a heavy presence.

Sarkozy, the chairman of the ruling Gaullist party and leading contender for the candidacy of his party in the 2007 presidential elections, has been building his reputation on an aggressive law-and-order platform. He immediately pledged to beef up the armoury of officers' "non-lethal" weapons. He also announced that seventeen companies of riot police and seven mobile police brigades would be permanently stationed on "difficult" housing estates, and that plainclothes officers would be sent in to identify "gang leaders, drug dealers and ringleaders."

[snip]

Sarkozy has been making provocative statements against youth from the council estates. He has promised to sandblast the "scum" and "gangrene" from the estates. He has also pledged to visit a "difficult" area every week.

Prime Minister Villepin and President Jacques Chirac have made no comment about Sarkozy's provocations. In the government, only the junior minister for equal opportunity, Azouz Begag, has spoken out against Sarkozy. On October 30, he declared: "You must not call the suburban youth 'scum,' you must not tell them that you're going to go for them and send the police against them."

Le Figaro's October 31 editorial expressed a certain nervousness in right-wing circles: "Nicolas Sarkozy's recent statements on the need to 'eradicate the gangrene' in the suburbs and 'clean up the council estates with sandblasters' are ill-considered in form. But in content?"

Taking their lead from France's top cop, the police patrolling the Clichy-sous-bois estates can be seen on a video, taken with a mobile phone, shooting rubber and plastic bullets at very close range and shouting: "Come back you bunch of bastards." - WSWS

M Sarkozy's police were highly visible yesterday around Aulnay's "Cité des 3,000", an estate of slab-like blocks of council flats that in recent years has had riots and raids on suspected terrorist haunts.

- timesonline.co.uk

a tear gas bomb was thrown into a mosque during prayer time.

The neighborhoods became a battle field and many police cars were set fire to. The unrest was triggered by the tragic death of two teenagers who were electrocuted while attempting to hide from police in a power sub-station. Youths in the neighborhood rioted, claiming, "Police knowingly chased the teenagers to their deaths" and have turned their neighborhoods into a battle field. Muhittin Altun, 18, a Turkish boy from Urfa, who had taken shelter in the power sub-station along with the two dead teenagers, went into a coma; however he regained consciousness on Monday. The French Prosecutor investigating the incident related that the three boys escaping from police had no previous criminal record. Residents of the neighborhoods connected with the incidents expressed their reaction by conducting a silent rally held over the weekend. - turks.us

from The Guardian - Thursday November 3, 2005 - Not for the first time, the unrest has highlighted tensions between wealthy big cities and their grim ghettoised banlieues, home to immigrants from the Maghreb and West Africa who have never been fully integrated into French society and have become an underclass for whom hopelessness and discrimination are normal.

It has also raised troubling questions about the government's role, and especially of Nicolas Sarkozy, chairman of the governing centre-right UMP party and the man most likely to challenge Mr Chirac for the presidency in 2007. Mr Sarkozy's position as interior minister has put him at the centre of this story, and there are suspicions that he is happy to use it in his battle against the prime minister and rival presidential hopeful, Dominique de Villepin. Mr Sarkozy is one of few French politicians prepared to tackle the twin issues of immigration and integration - he has some good ideas about positive discrimination and state funding for mosques - even if he has too much of an eye on the extreme right and the National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

His language is always forthright - one of the reasons why he is such an interesting and media-friendly politician. But it has been intemperate too. Using the word "scum" to describe the rioters was incendiary, especially after an earlier controversial comment about "cleaning up" crime in other urban areas.

Overreaction can have grave consequences, and the minister was right to admit that a police tear-gas grenade mistakenly hit a mosque. guardian.co.uk/

Week of riots follow the deaths of two African French youths

Thu 3 November 2005

There has been a week of violent clashes in Paris following the deaths of two young African boys thought to be running from police.

The clashes started last Thursday after Mauritania-born Traore Bouna, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17, of Tunisia died as they ran from a soccer game after they saw police enter the area. A third teenager Muttin Altun, 17, was badly burned after all three were accidentally electrocuted as they hid in an electricity sub station in the northeastern suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.

Tensions were already growing in the area after Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy declared "war without mercy" on violence in Paris suburbs. As a result he was pelted with stones and bottles while visiting suburb of Argenteuil.

Community tempers became flared after the Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy claimed on the following Friday that the youths were not being pursued by police when they were electrocuted. French authorities say that officers were investigating a suspected burglary and not chasing the boys whilst youths in the neighbourhood state that the police chased the boys to their death. Sarkozy, who has also been accused of inflaming the crisis with his tough talk and aggressive police tactics called those involved in the clashes "scum" and vowed to "clean out" troubled suburbs.

On the Saturday several hundred people took part in a peaceful silent march to honour the two dead teenagers and protest about police treatment. At the event Claude Dilain, mayor of Clichy-Sous-Bois said "Thanks to you, France will now respect us more than this morning, before this silent march".

But as the concerns of the deaths, police brutality and the dismal socio-economic conditions facing the 28,000 mainly North and West African residents was ignored by government, hundreds of mainly African French youths took to the streets again fighting with police, setting cars ablaze.

By Wednesday night at least 20 Paris-region towns were engulfed in the violent clashes. Jean-Francois Cordet, the top government official for the Seine-Saint-Denis region north of Paris said youths had fired four shots at riot police and firefighters but caused no injuries.

On Thursday morning traffic was halted 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. By night time amongst the buildings set ablaze were a primary school, a car dealership and a shopping centre. Several police officers and fire-fighters have been wounded.

On Sunday Oct 30 Six police were hurt in clashes outside Clichy as a police teargas grenade hit a mosque. Following this the families of the dead teenagers refused to meet Sarkozy, saying he is "very incompetent".

Ignoring the concerns of the African French

Ignoring the concerns of the African French community, the French Prime Minster Dominique de Villepin indirectly blamed the riots on gangs he claimed terrorized residents and sought to keep police out of their slums. He said "I refuse to accept that organized gangs are laying down the law in certain neighborhoods, I refuse to accept that crime networks and drug traffickers profit from this disorder, I refuse to accept that the strong intimidate the weak"

However, French anti-African groups have said they want to "stop the Islamization of France" and claimed that the problem stemmed from the "failure of a policy of massive and uncontrolled immigration" speaking of the mainly North and West African Muslims in the area.

In contrast Minister of Social Cohesion Jean-Louis Borloo said the government had to react "firmly" but added that France must also acknowledge its failure to deal with anger simmering in poor suburbs for over thirty years.

Michel Thooris from Action Police CFTC called for help from the army to support police officers and said "There's a civil war under way in Clichy-Sous-Bois at the moment ...My colleagues neither have the equipment nor the practical nor theoretical training for street fighting." Joaquin Masanet from the UNSA-Police union, which represents the majority of riot police, disagreed. "We're not at war," he said. "The police are capable of restoring order if we are given the material and human means." - ligali.org

Riots take torch to French ruling-party unity

Nov. 3 - FRANCE'S centre-right Government was in crisis last night as rioting spread across the suburbs of Paris for the sixth successive evening, in the country's worst case of urban violence among its poor immigrant Muslim community in years.

After five nights of unrest in Clichy-sous-Bois in the northeast of the capital, gangs of youths were faced down by riot police when 60 cars were torched in the Seine-Saint Denis area.

Police also confronted violence in Seine et Marne, Val d'Oise, Hauts de Seine, Yvelines and Bondy where youths pelted officers with stones, resulting in four arrests.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is embroiled in a power struggle with his party rival Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who yesterday refused to withdraw his incendiary descriptions of the rioters as "scum" and pledges of zero tolerance.

The pair are competing for their UMP party nomination for the 2007 presidential election.

However, internal government divisions over how to respond to the chaos in five of Paris's poor suburbs, populated mainly by poor immigrant families of North African origin, threatened to overshadow the bitter political contest between the pair.

Mr Sarkozy was accused by Promotion of Equal Opportunities Minister Azouz Begag of provoking alienated young people in the suburbs. Government politicians openly speculated that Mr Begag would resign if Mr Sarkozy persisted in stigmatising the urban youth. - the australian

Silent march follows Paris riots

The march was led by the families of the dead boys

Hundreds of people have taken part in a silent march through a suburb of Paris in memory of two teenage boys whose deaths sparked two nights of violence. The crowds blamed police for the deaths of the two boys, electrocuted when they climbed into an electrical station. Reports say the boys were trying to evade police, but local officials deny they were being chased when they died.

Meanwhile the unrest continued for a third night, with nine youths arrested after about 20 cars were set alight.

'Shot fired'

There were no clashes with police, unlike previous nights, on Saturday but several youths were seen throwing petrol bombs and other missiles in the district of Clichy-sous-Bois. About 300 police have been deployed to the area to maintain a law and order and will remain until further notice, officials said.

Police detained 14 people after Friday night's clashes, which officials said saw 15 police officers and one journalist injured, and a shot fired at a police van.

Thursday's violence broke out after youths attacked firefighters who had been called in to help the two victims, who were aged 15 and 17, and a third youth who received serious burns. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said police were in the area investigating an attempted robbery at the time, but insisted that the three had not been "physically pursued" by the police.

He said measures such as equipping officers with "non-lethal weapons" should be taken to counter urban violence such as that seen on Thursday and Friday nights.

Crackdown

Saturday's march was led by the dead boys' families. Before it began, the Socialist Mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois, Claude Dilain, told the crowd that the interior ministry had promised him "an impartial inquiry so that all light would be shed on the chronology of events".

Mr Sarkozy has made it a priority to crack down on crime.

Earlier this week, he announced new measures to deploy riot police to France's toughest neighbourhoods and equip police night patrols with video cameras. - bbc.co.uk

Paris autumn

Riots in the capital have left France floundering

The police are talking of "civil war". The French Government said yesterday that it would not give in. Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, declared that restoring public order was an absolute priority. But few expect any let-up in the rioting that has turned the suburbs of Paris into a battleground for the past week, as gangs smash shops, set fire to cars and hurl petrol bombs.

The Government has been wrong-footed in its response and the violence has yet to abate. The public has reacted with fear, anger and demands for a tougher police crackdown. The Right is calling for an end to the Islamicisation of France, which is home to more than five million Muslims. And France has been dramatically confronted with the failure of its controversial policies on ethnic and religious minorities.

The underlying causes are obvious enough. The poorer suburbs around Paris, as bleak as their names are picturesque, have become ghettos for ethnic minorities, many of them third-generation citizens with little connection to with their grandparents' homelands. Jobs are scarce, drugs are rife and the young men grow up in a rootless subculture, prey to criminal gang culture or religious extremism. Women are confined to their homes, health and education standards are poor, and a community is alienated from the mainstream lives by the customs and rules prevailing in Algeria or Morocco. Emergency services, often the targets of stones as symbols of the State, do not enter the ghettos without police escort.

France's tradition of an uncompromising insistence on "Frenchness" has made life difficult for minorities; though they have, in theory, the same rights and responsibilities as other citizens - a concept inherited from the colonial ideology of France's "civilising mission" - in practice they suffer unofficial discrimination in jobs, housing and opportunities. Passions are easily inflamed, and most big towns suffer periodic outbursts of racial and religious violence.

Comparisons are misleadingly drawn with Britain. Paris has little of the tolerance and diversity of London and its tensions are more typical of the former mill towns of northern England, where minorities, even after three generations, live, learn and work apart from their white neighbours. Poverty exacerbates tensions and boosts extremism in both majority and immigrant communities.

The Paris riots have taken a toll not only on tolerance and social harmony but also on the French political establishment. Nicolas Sarkozy's populist image as the tough, straight-talking Interior Minister ready to enforce the law has backfired, even though his policies have generally been more thoughtful than those of his predecessors. For a week President Chirac and M de Villepin have opportunistically exploited M Sarkozy's troubles by standing back and refusing to intervene. Only now does the Government seem to realise that unless France sets aside politicking to take a hard look at root causes, today's urban rioting could become violence on a much larger scale.

- times online

All in a night's mischief

posted by U*2 @ 6:07 AM

The night was rife with activity by those charming French kids. 754 vehicles burned, and 203 arrests. The violence continues to spread beyond the capital : One fourth of the vehicles were burned outisde of the Paris area in other regions of the country.

The accent by rioters is on pack-like behavior and avoiding direct confrontation with the herd (the riot police).

A pre-school was burned down in Achères as was a junior high school in Torcy. A fire truck was destroyed in Meaux. In Champigny a bus was torched after the occupants were forced to flee. A fire bomb was thrown at a police station in Saint-Denis, and in Suresnes an underground parking lot had 36 cars completely burned out. In Clamart, a ten year old was caught with a fire bomb (sounds like something that happened in Iraq) and in Boulogne police arrested a rioter who has torched 15 vehicles. Two warehouses were set alight in Aubervilliers and a Jewish synagogue was hit with a fire bomb in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine. In the same city, 100 residents of an apartment building were evacuated when there underbground parking lot was torched. In Essonne, a cop was injured by thrown bricks near the housing projects at Tarterêts where a car dealership and a tire warehouse were burned down. The Saint-Michel-sur-Orge City Hall was partially burned down and another pre-school was partially destroyed in Bretigny-sur-Orge.

If just a small portion of this violence has taken place in an African country, the French preSS would be muttering about civil war. As it is happening in their own corner of the world, they are doing their best to cover up, report as little as possible, and do what they do best -- be in denial.

At this point it is safe to say that the French authorities (sic) are overwhelmed and no longer have a handle on the situation. The rioters have been stepping up the pressure to see how far they can go and they are not finding much resistance, despite increased riot police presence in hotbeds like Seine Saint Denis. The fact that the French government cabinet is rife with infighting and backbiting is certainly a great encouragement for them. - no-pasaran.blogspot.

as this French situation escalates, with commentators now openly calling this
an 'Infitada' and a 'Eurabian civil war'... some call for extreme measures
Note: Francis Urquhart below in an unbelievable tirade:

The Need for Blood on the Streets of Paris

By: francisurquhart · Section: Diaries

The time has come for the use of violent force to quell the riots in France. Indeed, the time came days ago but now, I fear, we have reached a moment where the future of Western Civilization can be secured only by the shedding of blood. I say this with regret, but full of the conviction that conflict today will prevent a great tragedy tomorrow.

By now the situation is well-known to all. After the deaths, nine days ago, of two Islamic youth in what can only be described as an active example of evolution-in-action (hint for future: electrocution = bad) the various Moslem malcontents of France began what, at this point, can best be characterized as a French Intifada.

The French Government is, not unnaturally, trying to play these events down. However "Intifada" is exactly the correct label to place upon these disturbances. We have, in recent days, seen the burning of hundreds of cars, stone throwing attacks against the police, sniping against the police, and the lighting of people - including one female bystander - alight without cause. Moreover, the demands of the rioters are increasingly beginning to become clear. The ultimate goal of those looking beyond the window they're about to smash is for the French authorities to cede civil authority over various areas of France inhabited by Moslems (presumably while continuing to pay the costs of welfare).

This is a dangerous time for the future of the West. It is very possible that, all tough talk aside, the French might make some concessions to the rioters. Indeed, given the history of the French, it is more likely that they will do so than they will not. However, in the French do give in to Islamic demands, it will truly and fully inaugurate the process of the Israelification (or Ulsterization, if you will) of Europe - leading to an age where Islamic outrages are followed by mild European push-back, tough talk and finally concessions. Those who have laughed at conservative fears of a future Moslem Europe need look no further than France today to see how it could happen.

Imagine, for a moment, if the French authorities were to concede civil authority over various areas of France to the 10% of the population which is Islamic. What happens in two decades when 20% of the population is Moslem (a virtual certainly)? The only option, in that case, would be to cede more of France to them. And what after that? Given present fertility rates and immigration patterns, many of us alive today (including myself) could live to see the day when Moslems become a majority in France.

And, as goes France, so will go other parts of Europe. If the French concede to their Moslems some form of civic autonomy, soon the Moslems of Italy, Denmark, Holland, Britain and elsewhere will be rioting for the same - if it isn't simply handed to them by fearful and cowardly politicians in advance. If France gives in, then it becomes likely that Europe - like Israel - will gradually be chipped away at by the insidious forces of Islam. Inch by inch, the Moslems of today will achieve - with the help of craven and guilt-ridden European politicians - what their forbearers could not achieve through war via demographic conquest.

We cannot rescue France now, as we rescued them in the World Wars. There is no practical way. The French will have to do it on their own - and their reliability remains doubtful, at best. But it is in their hands now.

Order must be restored to the streets - we cannot allow the Moslems to create Palestine on the Seine. It would be the beginning of the end.

There is now only one way to restore order - with shot and shell. As harsh as it sounds, there is now no alternative to blood running in the streets of Paris. Indeed - it is now the preferable option. Even to allow the riots to simply recede - followed by concessions - would be to postpone the date of the cataclysm to come.

The French need to send in the army with live ammunition - ready to do their duty. It is essential to the future of France and to the future of Europe that a message be sent and that immediate steps be taken to repeal the Moslem foe. This begins with the restoration of order - but it does not end there. Given the dire situation of the French (with one in ten people being a Moslem and that number rising) there is no other option, really, but to both cut off further Islamic immigration and then to conduct mass deportations. It may not be practical to deport every Moslem - but a large number of troublemakers will have to be removed, perhaps even some who are formally citizens of France.

Steps of these sort are the only way to save France from the fate which she is marching towards. No other way can be found of restoring the nation and saving it from destruction.

The time has come to discard sentimentality and to accept that, for the future to be saved, lives will have to be lost.- francis urquhart

Parisian Intifada: jihadi conspiracy?

As unrest in the Muslim immigrant suburbs of Paris enters its ninth night, violence appears to be spreading to other towns such as Dijon, Marseille and Normandy, and into the capital itself. Trouble has now been reported from almost 90 towns around the capital, more than twice as many as the previous night, according to police. France's notoriously hardline Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is now seeing conspiracies. "What we have been witnessing ... has nothing spontaneous about it. It was perfectly organized. We are trying to find out by who and how," he said. (The Hindu, Nov. 5)

A game of good-cop/bad-cop appeared to be emerging between Sarkozy and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, his main rival for the presidency in 2007. But de Villepin himself took a harder line on the eighth night of violence, saying, "The republican state will not give in. Order and justice will have the last word in our country." This was after Sarkozy promised to clean up the suburbs "by Karcher," a reference to a brand of vacuum cleaner. He also referred to troublemakers in the suburbs as "riff-raff" and "scum." De Villepin made his comments despite Sarkozy coming under harsh criticism for his own comments as feuling further violence. (Financial Times, Nov. 4)

On Oct. 19 Sarkozy declared that the suburbs "have to be cleaned—we're going to make them as clean as a whistle." Six days after this, Muslim protestors threw stones and bottles at him when he visited the suburb of Argenteuil.

The riots began on Oct. 27 when two Muslim teenagers ran from police who were checking identification papers in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb, dominated by low-income housing projects. The youths hid in an electrical power sub-station, where they were accidentally electrocuted. Over 500 vehicles have been burned, buses have been fired on, and citizens brutally attacked. Claude Pernes, mayor of Rosny-sous-Bois, said a "veritable guerrilla situation, urban insurrection" has taken hold. (AINA, Guardian, Nov. 4)

Media accounts have generally overlooked that the riots erupted days after sensational claims that French police were investigating plans by a group of Islamic extremists to attack targets in Paris. The accounts claimed the group was recruiting French citizens to train in the Middle East and return home to carry out terrorist attacks.

One French official said the extremists were using an "underground railroad" through Syria to bring European and Middle Eastern citizens in and out of Iraq. An anonymous senior French law enforcement official said that French citizens had undergone terrorist training at camps in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.

"There's always been an enormous jihad zone to train people to fight in their country of origin," the official said. "We saw it Afghanistan, in Bosnia, in Kosovo, and now we're seeing it in Iraq."

He said the French cell under investigation "is linked with networks in Iraq, right now, through an individual based in Syria. Now we're finding camps in Syria and Lebanon, and it's the same pattern, training in explosives and chemical weapons, which is an obsession of the jihadists."

In a recent television interview, Sarkozy, called the terror risk for Paris "very high," adding, ''We know that there are about 10 young Frenchmen in Iraq, ready to become kamikazes."

"One asks himself why a certain number of young French people are in Pakistan in religious schools," Sarkozy said. "It's not normal that an individual who lives in our neighborhoods leaves all of a sudden for four months in Afghanistan, three months in Syria. We want to know who is going where, for how long, and when they come back." (Boston Globe, Oct. 19)

Sarkozy should shut up, as such prophecies have a way of becoming self-fulfilling—especialy when harsh police measures spark an angry backlash, such as we are now witnessing. Amnesty International noted one horrific case involving the apparent torture of a 17-year-old boy in December 2002 in Seine-Saint-Denis, exactly where the current rioting first erupted. This was mere months after Sarkozy had taken office, pledging a crackdown on the supposedly lawless immigrant suburbs. (See WW4 REPORT #35)

Far-right yahoos have already made much of Sarkozy's Jewish background, of course. Expect supposed "leftists" to pick up on this too if the Franco-Intifada spreads. Interestingly, Amnesty's 2003 report on France notes a growing pattern of racist attacks on Jews and Arabs alike, as well as ongoing police brutality.

See our last posts on France, resurgent neo-fascism in Europe, and kneejerk "leftist" anti-Semitism (example 1, example 2)

WE are all against what's happening here," said one North African resident in Aulnay-sous-Bois. "There's nothing for youths to do. Sarkozy lit the fuse and has not said sorry."

The riots began just days after Sarkozy's launch of a controversial crackdown on crime in the country's tough suburbs.

The minister's aggressive language, in which he referred to rioters as "scum" and vowed "to clean out" troubled suburbs, led to accusations from both the Socialist opposition and from within his own party that he was fanning the violence. Police unions have also joined the chorus of criticism, castigating Sarkozy's decision to end neighbourhood policing and complaining that his declared war on delinquency is making their job increasingly difficult and dangerous.

But Sarkozy stubbornly defended himself. "I speak with real words," he told the popular daily, Le Parisien. "When you fire real bullets at police, you're not a 'youth', you're a thug."

The media-hungry Sarkozy has also been accused of trying to capitalise on the situation to boost his own visibility ahead of the presidential race.

But in the suburbs, young residents are united in their anger over the interior minister's incendiary language and his "lack of respect".

"Sarko must shut up. Either he apologises or he resigns, instead of coming to spread chaos in the suburbs like Bush in Iraq," one 16-year-old said.

"When I see what is happening now, I always come back to this image: Sarkozy in Argenteuil [a troubled Paris suburb], raising his head and saying: 'Madame, I am going to clean all of this away.' The result? By playing the superhero, the control freak, Sarko has made everyone go crazy. He showed a total lack of respect to everyone," said Christophe, 22, a student.

Franck Cannarozzo, a deputy mayor of Aulnay-sous-Bois, added: "We see among the rioters kids of 13 to 15, who are swept along, who are encouraged to take all the risks, and the others, the ringleaders, who are used to creating trouble - they terrorise everyone, and don't want to stop. Rather than playing on their PlayStations, they attack the police."

Meanwhile political analysts note that with de Villepin increasingly appealing to centre right and even left-leaning voters, Sarkozy is being forced further to the right in the run-up to the presidential campaign.

By Thursday, criticism of the government had reached such intensity that de Villepin and Sarkozy were obliged to put personal ambition behind them, at least for the cameras, and present a united front as they both postponed overseas trips to hold emergency meetings throughout the day.

Since his initial handling of the riots was criticised, de Villepin has adopted a tougher stance, blaming gangs of criminals and drug dealers for instigating the riots. He said: "The Republican state will not give in. Order and justice will have the last word in our country."

Yesterday, he summoned eight key ministers and a top Muslim official to his offices as he tried to chart an end to the violence.

scotsman.com

200 arrested in ninth night of French riots

05/11/2005 - Youths torched 750 cars, stoned paramedics and burned a nursery school in a ninth night of violence that spread from Paris suburbs to towns around France, police said today. Authorities arrested more than 200 people overnight - an unprecedented sweep since the unrest began. It was by far the worst night of car-burning - a day earlier, 500 vehicles were torched.

In a particularly malevolent turn, youths in the eastern Paris suburb of Meaux prevented paramedics from evacuating a sick person from a housing project, pelting rescuers with rocks and torching the awaiting ambulance, an Interior Ministry official said.

A nursery school was badly burned in Acheres, west of Paris, with part of the roof caved in. Children's photos stuck to blackened walls, and melted plastic toys littered the floor. The town had been previously untouched by the violence. Some residents demanded that the army be deployed, or that citizens rise up and form militias. At the school gate, the mayor tried to calm tempers.

"We are not going to start militias," Mayor Alain Outreman said. "You would have to be everywhere."

Unrest, mainly arson, was reported in the northern city of Lille, in Toulouse in the south-west and in the Normandy city of Rouen. It was the second night that troubles spread beyond the difficult Paris suburbs, which have high unemployment and large immigrant populations.

In Suresnes, a normally calm town just west of the capital, troublemakers burned 44 cars in a lot.

"This is dreadful, unfortunate. Who did this? Against whom?" said Naima Mouis, 43, a hospital worker in Suresnes looking at the hulk of her burned-out car.

This morning, more than 1,000 people took part in a silent march in one of the worst-hit suburbs, Aulnay-sous-Bois, filing past burned-out cars to demand calm. One banner read: "No to violence."

Car torchings have become a daily fact in France's tough suburbs, with about 100 each night.

The Interior Ministry operations centre reported 754 vehicles burned throughout France from Friday night to Saturday morning, with three quarters of them in the Paris area.

Arrests were also up sharply, with 203 people detained overnight, the centre said. By comparison, Interior Ministry Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday that police had made 143 arrests during the whole first week of unrest.

The violence - sparked after the October 27 accidental electrocution of two teenagers who believed police were chasing them in Seine-Saint-Denis - has laid bare discontent simmering in France's poor suburbs ringing big cities.

Those areas are home to large populations of African Muslim immigrants and their children living in low-income housing projects marked by high unemployment, crime and despair. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin oversaw a Cabinet meeting today to evaluate the situation.

The persistence of the violence prompted the American and Russian governments to advise citizens visiting Paris to steer clear of the uburbs, where authorities were struggling to gain control of the worst rioting in at least a decade.

In Torcy, east of the capital, looters set fire to a youth centre and a police station, which were gutted, city hall said. An incendiary device was tossed at the wall of a synagogue in Pierrefitte, north-west of Paris, where electricity went out after a burning car damaged an electrical pole.

A police officer at the Interior Ministry operations centre said bullets were fired into a vandalised bus in Sarcelles, north of Paris. The officer, not authorised to speak publicly, asked not to be named. Firefighters battled a furious blaze at a carpet warehouse in Aubervilliers, on the northern edge of Paris.

"I'm not able to sleep at night because you never know when a fire might break out," said Mammed Chukri, 36, a Kurdish immigrant from northern Iraq living near the warehouse. "I have three children and I live in a five-story building. If a fire hit, what would I do?"

- IOL

Why is France burning?

There have been several theories bandied about.

First theory: this is the result of French racism. The immigrants have been warehoused in the cites for decades. Unemployment is high in part because the people there have a hard time finding jobs elsewhere in France, mostly due to discrimination.

Second theory: this is a consequence of socialism. France's economy has been stalled for years, with almost no growth in employment, primarily due to excessively high taxes and stifling government regulation on business. As a result, unemployment in the nation as a whole is stuck in two digits, and it's even worse for young men in the cites.

Third theory: Sarkozy broke an unwritten agreement with the immigrants. For years the cites were "no go" zones for the French police, which have become de facto independent duchies ruled by criminals. The event which apparently touched this off was when French police responded to a telephone report of a crime which previously would have been ignored. A gang of kids was breaking into a shop, and a squad of policemen showed up and arrested several of them. Three others fled and scaled a wall surrounding a power substation to hide; two of those were electrocuted and a third was badly burned.

Fourth theory: Radical islamists have been preaching and organizing in the cites for a long time now, preaching jihad and denouncing the west. In some of the cites now women are forced to wear the hijab. There's been increasing friction between the government and religious leaders as the government has begun to crack down on and deport the most radical imams, and has passed a law banning headscarves in school.

Fifth theory: Jihadis have been preparing for an uprising, stockpiling weapons and organizing cells in preparation for an opportunity to begin an outright revolution. They didn't actually start this but they've seized the opportunity to fan the flames.

Sixth theory: It's the Americans' fault. No one has actually said this yet, and certainly the connection would be quite tenuous, but it's bound to come up eventually. Likely the argument would be that Muslims in Europe are angry because of the American invasion of Iraq. - Steven Den Beste

FRANCE: AMATEUR VIDEO SHOWS POLICE PROVOKING VIOLENCE BY INSULTING AND FIRING RUBBER BULLETS INTO GROUPS OF YOUNG PEOPLE

"Rough translation"

Faced with the insurrections of the drama of the two kids killed, electrocuted at an EDF (electric company) transformer while they "fled police", the people of Cliche-sous-bois (paris suburb) accused cops of throwing oil on the fire by knowingly provoking them by firing on them without cause with rubber bullets. Afrik recovered a video illustrating police violence and collected multiple testimonies at a meeting, Sunday, between the mayor and the people.

Sunday, 3 pm city hall, Clichy-sous-bois. The mayor organized an informal meeting with the people, all very upset or ?? by the attitude of police the previous day. The day before, the town organized a silent march in homage to two adolescents, Ziad et Banou, burned alive last wednesday in an EDF power station while they were, or thought to be, pursued by police. But if, after two days of riots, the tension was reduced a notch, youth accused the powers that be of inciting and maintaining the hatred of the 'flat foots' by multiplying provocations, abuse of authority and unprovoked (unnecessary) repression.

"All forces unified to calm the game have done a tremendous job. The march played out calmly, but in the evening the CRS (special police) set out to egg the youths on, to provoke them." admitted a member of the mayors office who requested to remain anonymous. In the parking lot of city hall, more than 150 people, primarily of African decent (Black Africans and North Africans), came to listen to the mayor. His most recent reminder, all that happened will cost the city, therefore the taxpayers. He pushed for a solution between residents and tried to set aside the police factor. Each should express themselves freely.

In the crowd, the talk is unhinged. Small groups are formed then and there to comment on the events of the day before. All denounced the abuses and the provocations by police. Many were hit with questions or directly targeted "They (police officers) are more agitated [than the 'rioters'], they have provoked us the most. The brother of one of the late children was with us, as usual, downstairs at his building, when police arrived with their 'flash balls' (rubber bullet loaded guns) they started to size us up, and finish by telling him: ' you, run home to your mommy '. He took three steps towards the cops to speak to them, one of the cops said: ' Stop or I'll light you up'. We ran all the way up to the tenth floor, they started shooting tear gas into the hall ", explains a nauseated Jérémy.

Mothers were insulted when they they left the mosque

"What they are all saying is a bunch of crap, especially the journalists, claims Youcef, while watching the news team of Capa productions ('The real newspaper'), surrounded by youths, taking pictures and comments. They have, from the start, dirtied the reputations of the victims, in spite of the fact that today, the prosecutor of Bobigny admitted that they did not have a bad reputation with police. The media want to portray us as scum, where in fact it is the police who are provoking people in order to obtain the smallest pretext to attack or shoot."

"We left the mosque, and police encircled us, 'flash balls' in hand. They asked us to leave, but what shocked us the most is when they put in play, mothers who were leaving prayer service, whom they were insulting: "get the hell out of here you whores and take better care of your kids!", explains, Morad, full of contained anger. He may not seem the type to ask about the confrontation with police forces, but not everyone is as calm.

Police a force of order... or disorder?

The tension is palpable. More so as three police cars were posted 50 meters from city hall. One of the police officers has his flash ball in hand and his finger on the trigger. The crowd takes that as provocation. The ambience gets a bit heated. Two people begin to incite the crowd to attack the police: "Come on, there's more of us, we'll all go [untranslatable] their mothers", clamp one of them. Fortunately partisans of calm and dialogue are more numerous. They manage to disperse the line of youths formed facing the police cars.

"They go to far in provoking us, I have friends who were shot at, like that, for nothing, with plastic bullets. That can generate only violence. Everyone has heated tempers. Now if it's gonna blow up, it's gonna blow up. I am not afraid of them and their weapons. We will get to the point where someone will get weapons. It will be just like America here ", prophesies Jonathan.

"Police stopped me at 4 in the morning. I was alone in the car. They rummaged through the vehicle and found a baseball bat in my trunk. When they asked me why I had a bat, I said that it is not illegal to have one in ones trunk. They told me: "is it prohibited if I slam it in your face! ". Then they started to say to me "We aren't in Beirut here" and to insult me "piece of crap little fag". One of them absolutely wanted to see me in tears. He came right in front of me and said to me "Cry! ". Fortunately, as he repeated his words, a car of journalists passed. I challenged them and they stopped. The police officer gave up before they arrived because he did not want to be witnessed by journalists, so he could do nothing but let me go.

The police entirely covered by Nicolas Sarkozy

In the Clichy-sous-Bois drama, two versions clash, on the point of knowing if the police pursued the teenagers or not, who were returning from a soccer match: that of the police and that of the young people of the city. The problem is that there are witnesses. One of the young people chased explains he hid whereas his three buddies ran right towards the EDF power station. Beyond this testimony, some don't find the version of the police to be any better "Why were some other young people stopped if they were not pursuing them, because everyone ran?", question some. "Why would the young people have decided to climb a 3 meter (10 foot) high wall with barbed wire? ", wonders others. As many interrogations as police sweeps a turn of hand.

The Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, has himself, declared Sunday at 8 pm on TF1 [TV channel, Like ABC], that according to elements he laid out: "the police did not pursue the young people". If he intends "to tell the truth to the whole world", he made a point of paying "homage to the remarkable work of the police officers" and of "congratulating them" for the various citations [made against suspects]. A sedentary speech which feeds, for many, a dangerous combination - namely that all the apprehended people were hooligans and which guarantees the impunity of the police.

An overpowering video for the police

Nicolas Sarkozy once again pointed out that he intended to maintain "zero tolerance" in face of urban violence. Calling on local police, he preaches the need for multiplying the interpolations. Inferring that "real youngsters", have nothing to fear from police. In the mean time, [the bigger strategy], includes more than 400 CRS, gendarmes and police officers, who started setting up Sunday to surround the city.

Do the police supported by the Minister of the Interior have all those rights? A video, made with a cell phone, is currently circulating in the districts. A document, headed "The new keufs [1]de Sarko", which was given to Afrik and of which a part could be seen online. We see a police car, stopped, door open. One guesses that a police officer is hit by a projectile. The response is immediate. We clearly see plain clothes policemen shooting on several occasions, of which two times almost [emptying their clips], of their flash balls. We see them running after the young people shouting "Come back you bastards! "

"Some of the rubber bullets are even signed, explains Kader. There is a guy who recovered one which carried the inscription: ' Boom, boom in your butt, so long, Luc '. The rupture between the young people and the police seems definitively consumed. Between the speeches of the politicians, who caution the contrivance of the police and media, accused of disguising and truncating reality, mistrust and dissatisfaction feed a feeling of hatred which could unfortunately lead to a worst case.

David Cadasse afrik.com

Gaddafi Offers Help Over Riots

From: Agence France-Presse correspondents in Tripoli - November 06, 2005 Gaddafi Offers Help Over Riots LIBYAN leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi called French President Jacques Chirac overnight to express his concern about rioting in Paris suburbs and other parts of France. Gaddafi Offers Help Over Riots The Libyan national news agency reported that Mr Chirac thanked Colonel Gaddafi for his interest and reassured him that the situation was under control. Gaddafi Offers Help Over Riots Colonel Gaddafi was reported saying Libya was "disposed to help France overcome these events," which he described as "regrettable." Gaddafi Offers Help Over Riots The report did not outline what kind of aid might have been forthcoming. Gaddafi Offers Help Over Riots French authorities have stepped up police action against youths responsible for more than a week of urban riots, in which hundreds of vehicles were set alight, as suspicions grew that gangs were becoming increasingly organised - link

Chirac calls security meeting as riots spread

06/11/2005 - French President Jacques Chirac called a security meeting of his top ministers tonight after urban rioting spread - with arsonists striking from the Mediterranean to the German border and into central Paris for the first time.

The meeting, planned for later this evening, came as Chirac faced mounting criticism from opposition politicians for not speaking publicly about the violence that has fanned out from Paris's tough northeastern suburbs.

The intensity and scope of the unrest overnight was unprecedented since riots first erupted northeast of Paris on October 27. Arsonists burned 1,295 vehicles nationwide, including 35 within Paris itself - a sharp increase from the 897 attackeds the night before, said national police spokesman Patrick Hamon. Police made 349 arrests nationwide, he said.

"What we notice is that the bands of youths are, little by little, getting more organised," arranging attacks through mobile phone text messages and learning how to make petrol bombs, Hamon said.

Police found a petrole bomb-making factory in a derelict building in Evry south of Paris, with more than 100 bottles ready to turned into bombs, another 50 already prepared, as well as stocks of fuel and hoods for hiding rioters' faces, said senior Justice Ministry official Jean-Marie Huet. Police arrested six youths, all under 18, he added.

The discovery on Saturday night showed that petrol bombs being used by rioters "are not being improvised by kids in their bathrooms".

Post offices, municipal buildings, provincial police stations and even nursery schools were targeted to the north, south, east and west of Paris. Police say copycat attacks are fanning the unrest, but there was no evidence that separate gangs were coordinating. Officials say older youths, many already known to police for previous crimes, appear to be teaching younger teens to make gasoline bombs and carry out attacks.

The unrest is forcing France to confront long-simmering anger in its suburbs, where many immigrants and their French-born children live on society's margins, struggling with high unemployment, racial discrimination and despair.

France, with some five million Muslims, has the largest Islamic population in Western Europe.

Overnight attacks were reported in unlikely southern cities including the cultural bastion of Avignon and the resort cities of Nice and Cannes.

There were also attacks in or around the cities of Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Strasbourg and in the Normandy area.

The unrest took another alarming turn with car burnings inside the well-guarded French capital. Most of the vehicles torched were on the northern and southern edges of the city. But police said three cars were damaged by fire from petrol bombs near the Place de la Republique neighbourhood, or 3rd district, northeast of City Hall and near the historic Marais district.

Before the latest incidents, some 2,300 police poured into the Paris region to bolster security.

The violence in Clichy-sous-Bois, a low-income suburb northeast of Paris, after the deaths of two teenagers, of Mauritanian and Tunisian origin. The youths were accidentally electrocuted as they hid from police in a power substation. They apparently thought they were being chased.

Since then, the situation has calmed in Clichy-sous-Bois, where clashes between youths and police have stopped. But, anger and violence has heightened in new areas. In all, 3,300 buses, cars and other vehicles have been torched since the violence began, said Hamon, the police spokesman.

He said the town of Evreux, 60 miles west of Paris, appeared hardest hit by marauding youths overnight, with arsonists destroying at least 50 vehicles, shops and businesses, a post office and two schools.

Five Evreux police officers and three firefighters were injured in clashes with youths, Hamon said.

"Rioters attacked us with baseball bats," said Philippe Jofres, a deputy fire chief, told France-2 television. "We were attacked with pickaxes. It was war."

For a second night, a helicopter equipped with spotlights and video cameras to track bands of youths combed the poor, heavily immigrant Seine-Saint-Denis region, northeast of Paris, where the violence began and has been concentrated.

Dozens of vehicles, two gymnasiums and at least three classrooms were set afire in the Seine-Saint-Denis region, outside Paris, local officials said.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy - blamed for inflaming violence with tough talk and calling troublemakers "scum" - visited the hard-hit Essonne region early today to "give police support," he said. - IOL

Man dies after being beaten in French unrest

PARIS, Nov 7 (Reuters) - A man beaten up during violence in a riot-hit suburb north of Paris died of his injuries on Monday, making him the first fatality in unrest that began on Oct. 27.

Hospital officials and an Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed the death of Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec but gave no other details.

Le Parisien newspaper said the victim was 60 and had been attacked by a youth outside his home in the suburb of Stains. He had been in a coma since then, it said.

Rioters shot at police and torched 1,400 vehicles overnight form Sunday to Monday as unrest increased, despite a vow by President Jacques Chirac to defeat it. - alertnet.org

A French policeman holds a shotgun shell recovered on Sunday night after officers were fired on by rioters. morte pic from der speigel

French rioters shoot at police, Chirac vows action

By Franck Prevel GRIGNY, France, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Rioters shot at police and torched 1,400 vehicles in France's poor suburbs as unrest spread and intensified for an 11th night despite a vow by President Jacques Chirac to defeat it.

Reacting to official suggestions that Islamist militants might be orchestrating some of the protests, one of France's largest Muslim organisations issued a fatwa against the unrest, but violence reached new levels overnight.

In the most serious incident, youths at a housing estate in Grigny, south of Paris, ambushed police with rocks, petrol bombs and firearms. Ten officers were injured, including two seriously hurt by pellets shot into their neck and legs.

"They really shot at officers," said Bernard Franio, head of police for the Essone area south of Paris, after about 200 youths attacked his colleagues in Grigny.

"This is real, serious violence. It's not like the previous nights. I am very concerned because this is mounting."

A policeman at the scene held up a shotgun cartridge for cameras. Rioters fired live rounds at police and fire crews on Wednesday night, but no injuries were reported.

The police union Action Police CFTC urged the government on Monday to impose a curfew on the riot-hit areas and call in the army to control the youths, many of whom are French-born citizens of Arab or African origin complaining of racism.

The violence began with the accidental electrocution of two youths fleeing police outside Paris.

"Nothing seems to be able to stop the civil war that spreads a bit more every day across the whole country," it said in a statement. "The events we're living through now are without precedent since the end of the Second World War."

The head of France's employers' group expressed concern about the impact the unrest could have on tourism and investment in France, where sluggish growth is stifling job creation.

"France's image has been deeply damaged," Laurence Parisot told Europe 1 radio.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, whose tough line has been widely criticised but apparently endorsed by President Jacques Chirac's demand that order be restored before any measures are taken, visited the injured policemen in hospital.

PRIME MINISTER'S RESPONSE

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was due on national television late on Monday (1900 GMT) to explain how he planned to plot a path out of the crisis.

"We cannot accept any 'no-go' areas," Villepin said after Chirac chaired a special domestic security council late on Sunday. He vowed security would be stepped up where necessary and some 2,300 extra officers have already been drafted in to quell riots that have begun to unnerve France's EU neighbours.

National Police service chief Michel Gaudin said 1,408 vehicles had been burned and 395 people arrested. The provincial cities of Marseille, Saint-Etienne, Toulouse, Metz and Lille were the worst affected, he told reporters.

Youths torched a bus in Saint-Etienne in central France, injuring the driver and a passenger. In the eastern city of Strasbourg, rioters threw petrol bombs into a primary school.

In Toulouse in the southwest, a blazing car was pushed into a metro entrance. At Lens in the north, a firebomb was thrown at a church. In nearby Lille, about 50 cars were torched and a Belgian television reporter was beaten up as he filmed.

In his first public comments since the unrest began on Oct. 27, Chirac on Sunday vowed the state was determined "to be stronger than those who want to sow violence or fear".

But the opposition have attacked his administration's handling of the crisis, which has dented the right's law and order credentials.

"The least we can say is that the government's response has been confused and weak," Jean-Marc Ayrault, Socialist Party leader in the National Assembly, wrote in the daily Le Figaro.

Chirac's government has come under increasing pressure to halt the riots, sparked by frustration among ethnic minorities over racism, unemployment and harsh treatment by police.

Many feel trapped in the drab suburbs, built in the 1960s and 1970s to house waves of immigrant workers. Their French-born children and grandchildren are now out on the streets demanding the equality France promised but, they say, failed to deliver. - alertnet.org

French town in suburban Paris declares night curfew

The mayor of Raincy, east of Paris, declared a night curfew, the first such act since the unrest began with the accidental electrocution of two youths fleeing police outside Paris.

Raincy, one of the towns in suburban Paris hit by rioting, was preparing Monday to enact a nightime curfew, the mayor's office said.

A top aide to Mayor Eric Raoult said the curfew was expected to be enacted Monday night or Tuesday. Details were still be drawn up, he said. He refused to be identified by name, saying Raoult himself would release details later.

The official would not say how the curfew might work. But he said that another suburban Paris town had in the past instituted a curfew to stop teenagers under age 15 from being out on the streets after 10 p.m. at night. The curfew empowered police to take the teenagers home or to a police station where their parents had to come to collect them, he said. - eitb24.com

Neo-con/fascist provocateurs behind French riots?

November 6, 2005 -- As is the case with other European countries where fascist and Islamist fundamentalist forces have joined forces, there is increasing evidence that the riots that have swept France for a week and a half have been far more than spontaneous reactions to the electrocution at a Paris electrical sub-station of two Muslim teens who were escaping police. With an ailing President Jacques Chirac stepping down in 2007, the battle lines have been drawn between two conservative presidential candidates -- Interior Minister Nicolas Sarzoky (nicknamed "Sarko"), a confirmed neo-con in the tradition of fellow travelers in Italy, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Israel, and Spain, and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. Sarkozy has inflamed Muslims and other minorities in France by describing ghetto youths in broad pejorative terms such as "riff-raff" and "scum." While Sarkozy has inflamed the situation with his anti-immigrant rhetoric, de Villepin has sought to mollify the situation by not wanting to overreact and create more turmoil.

However, with rioting spreading beyond Paris to the north and south of the country and extending beyond young Muslims to unemployed African, Afro-Caribbean, and white young people, the situation is being used by Sarkozy to blame "Jihadist conspiracists" for coordinating the rioting. Sarkozy has strong links to the Likud Party in Israel and the neo-cons in the Bush administration and the Blair government in London. The neo-con media conglomerates such as Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and the Hollinger Group are blaming the violence on France's relative tolerance of its large Muslim population. The neo-con media is also playing up reports that French rioters are proclaiming that they are turning Paris into "Baghdad." The always reprehensible neo-con racist Mark Steyn, who pens his vile hate-filled garbage for the Chicago Sun Times and other neo-con rags, writes that the rioting youths are not really French but Arabs taking advantage of Jacques Chirac's "weakness" on Iraq. Funny, but this editor never met too many Arabs from Cayenne, Fort-de-France, Basse-Terre, Abidjan, Antananarivo, Porto Novo, or Brazzaville. Too bad about the neo-cons, geography and history don't seem to be their strong points. Racist talking points, on the other hand, are their stock in trade.

Neo-con game plan? Turning Paris into Baghdad

What is happening in France has all the signs of yet another possible neo-con "false flag" operation in the same category as the Niger fraudulent uranium documents, the provocative actions of Israeli agents in New Jersey who were dressed up as Arabs during the morning of 9-11, unexplained Spanish and British government activities surrounding the train bombings in Madrid and London, and recent deadly bombings in Delhi during Hindu and Muslim holidays attributed to a previously unknown Kashmiri group. The neo-cons have been unhappy about India's Congress government (a government the neo-cons are trying to link to the UN Oil-for-Food scandal), which unlike the previous Hindu nationalist government, is making peace overtures to neighboring Pakistan. As with France, India immediately suspected closely coordinated planning in the bombings and sought to analyze intercepts of thousands of cell phone calls placed in the Indian capital shortly before the bombings.

The French politician who benefits the most from this explosion of violence in a country where Muslim citizens constitute a significant minority is Sarkozy. The losers stand to be de Villepin's faction of the Gaullist RPR party and a newly-resurgent Socialist Party, which rejects the neo-con international agenda. It is not coincidental that the rioting is mainly plaguing cities and towns governed by Socialist and Communist mayors -- leaders who are now caught between addressing the social problems that helped spark the violence and responding to calls for a return to law and order.

The Socialists, Greens, and Communists are charging Sarkozy with inciting greater violence and then failing to respond to it adequately, thus ensuring the rioting would spread beyond mainly Muslim areas in Paris to wealthier Parisian neighborhoods and beyond Paris to Rouen, Lille, Nice, Dijon, Strasbourg, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Rennes, Pau, Orleans, and Toulouse. Later, the closely coordinated rioting spread further to Lyon, Roubaix, Avignon, Saint-Dizier, Drancy, Evreux, Nantes, Dunkirk, Montpellier, Valenciennes, Cannes, and Tourcoing.

As in Italy, Britain, Switzerland, and Germany, there are strong links in France between Islamist fundamentalist provocateurs and neo-Nazis. For example, French National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen is close to Achmed Huber, formerly of Al Taqwa, a Swiss and Italian financial group linked by the United States Treasury Department to Al Qaeda. Informed sources in Germany and the United States have also linked Huber to the activities of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega during the Iran-Contra covert operations conducted by the Reagan-Bush administration. Interestingly, French intelligence and law enforcement are reporting that the riots in France involve international narcotics smugglers.

The possibility that neo-cons and their fascist allies are manipulating the violence in France to their own advantage has the net result of bringing France into the neo-con's oft-stated goal of a "Clash of Civilizations" between the West and the Muslim world. The likes of Mark Steyn are already insidiously referring to the Frankish-Muslim 732 Battle of Tours between a Moorish army and the forces of Charles Martel. Reasonable political leaders in France should realize that France is being used to ratchet up tension in Europe and distract attention away from recent reports of US secret prison camps and torture centers in Eastern Europe and additional proof that the neo-cons conspired to push the United States into a disastrous war in Iraq. Already, the neo-con media is blaming the violence in France on Islamic terrorists -- a stock phrase for the neo-cons in Washington, London, Jerusalem, Rome, and the French Interior Ministry allies of Sarkozy. However, most of the rioters, mostly from North Africa and Western Africa, are not even practicing Muslims, making the possibility of "Fifth Column" provocateurs being behind the violence all the more likely. French officials are increasingly suggesting that the violence has been closely coordinated and that the primary targets -- trains, police stations, youth centers, banks, libraries, post offices, municipal buildings, schools -- have all been connected to the French government and not to ethnic or religious groups.

Muslim rioting has also spread to Arhus, Denmark and police in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods in Brussels are on full alert. The Danish rioting conveniently broke out as a parliamentary inquiry is due to get underway on the lying by the neo-con influenced government of Anders Fogh Rasmussen on bogus Iraqi WMD intelligence. Neo-con media organs in Europe and North America are suspiciously blaming the Muslim violence on Europe's "welfare state."

The National Security Agency and other signals intelligence agencies that monitor French communications are likely in possession of intercepts that would point to interesting outside interference in coordinating and promoting the French violence and the resultant counter-actions by Sarkozy. It would be interesting to read the transcripts of Sarkozy's recent telephone conversations with his co-ideologists in Washington, London, Brussels, Jerusalem, and Rome. A few years ago, a senior inspector with the French DST (FBI) told this editor that his agency's wiretaps of Richard Perle's home in the south of France had yielded some interesting information, all of which was passed to the FBI in Washington. Perhaps it is time that raw intercepts of international phone calls and e-mail among the neo-cons be leaked in order to hang them using their own past tactics. With their fingerprints beginning to appear on the French rioting, the neo-cons are proving that they will not be put down easily. - wayne madsen

Chirac keeps low profile as French riots go on

By Tom Heneghan PARIS, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Jacques Chirac used to speak with passion about France's widening gap between privileged and poor and tell how he would fight rising crime. That was when he was running for president in 1995 and re-election in 2002.

Now that France faces a spreading revolt by poor young men in its grimy suburbs and sees cars, shops and schools firebombed nightly, Chirac has kept almost completely out of sight. Chirac, who regularly addresses the nation on television on other issues, has made only one public appearance so far, saying on Sunday he was determined to restore order. Announcing steps such as authorising curfews are left to his ministers. This low profile has reinforced the impression that he and his conservative government have few options for answering the challenge the unrest has presented to its policies for fighting joblessness, crime and social exclusion.

"The absence of the president is remarkable in this period we're going through," Francois Bayrou, head of the centrist Union of French Democracy (UDF) party, said on Tuesday. "He was elected on the issues of the social fracture in 1995 and of crime in 2002. And the least we can say is that what's happening in the suburbs goes to the heart of these issues."

This long silence has not gone unnoticed in the rundown housing estates where rioters, many of them French-born citizens of Arab and African descent, charge that the state ignores the unemployment and racial discrimination they face.

"Chirac has nothing to say. He's invisible," complained Fouzi Guendouz, a business student in Aulnay-sous-Bois, one of the many riot-hit suburbs northeast of Paris.

Commentators noted that Chirac's silence put Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on the front line, fully responsible to handle a crisis for which nobody has a ready solution.

"This discretion, if it lasts, could be seen as an admission of weakness or a denial of the president's responsibility," commentator Pierre Le Marc said on France Inter radio.

Chirac has been declared well after suffering a vision problem and there has been no hint this could be affecting him.

"SOFT TERROR IN DEPRIVED SUBURBS"

Chirac's low profile is all the more striking because he once enjoyed support in the suburbs, mostly because his stands in favour of Palestinian rights and against the U.S.-led war in Iraq appealed to Muslims there of Arab and African origin. The conservative Chirac highlighted the problems these youths faced in 1995 when he made the so-called social fracture -- the growing gap between rich and poor -- the key plank in his aggressive election campaign.

"A soft terror reigns in the deprived suburbs," he wrote in the campaign book "A France For Everyone" spelling out his vision for healing the "vulnerable and wounded" country. "When too many youths see on the horizon only unemployment or short internships at the end of uncertain studies, they end up in revolt. For the moment, the state is only trying to keep order and handouts stave off the worst. But for how long?"

Running behind the then Prime Minister Edouard Balladur in the polls, Chirac hammered away at his rival: "A social fracture is deepening and the entire nation pays the price."

Running a tight race for reelection in 2002, Chirac attacked his main rival, Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, as weak on crime and vowed to impose the "zero tolerance" policies made famous by New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

"Nobody in France feels safe anymore," he said in 2002 on a campaign stop in the Paris suburbs now hit by the rioting. - reuters alertnet.org

Timeline: French riots

A chronology of key events:

25 October: Visiting the Paris suburb of Argenteuil to see how new measures against urban violence are working, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is pelted with stones and bottles. He says that crime-ridden neighbourhoods should be "cleaned with a power hose" and describes violent elements as "gangrene" and "rabble".

27 October: Teenagers Zyed Benna and Bouna Traore are electrocuted after climbing into an electrical sub-station in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, in what locals say was an attempt to hide from police. The police deny this, but news of their deaths triggers riots in the area which is home to large African and Arab communities. Arsonists destroy 15 vehicles.

Deaths that set Clichy ablaze

29 October: As unrest creeps across the Seine-Saint-Denis administrative region, a silent march to remember Zyed and Bouna is held in Clichy-sous-Bois by mourners in tee-shirts reading "dead for nothing".

30 October: Mr Sarkozy pledges "zero tolerance" of rioting and sends police reinforcements to Clichy-sous-Bois. A junior minister in charge of equal opportunities, Azouz Begag, condemns the use of the word "rabble". A tear gas grenade, like those used by riot police, explodes at a Clichy-sous-Bois mosque, provoking further anger.

1 November: Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin pledges a full investigation into the deaths of Zyed and Bouna at a meeting with their families. Rioting spreads out of Seine-Saint-Denis to three other regions in the Paris area.

2 November: Rioters ransack a police station at Aulnay-sous-Bois, police report coming under fire from at least two live bullets at La Courneuve and 177 vehicles are burnt.

3 November: Violence spreads beyond the Paris region to the eastern city of Dijon and parts of the south and west, with 400 vehicles burnt.

Riots spread beyond Paris

6 November: President Jacques Chirac promises to restore order after a meeting with his government. There follows the most dramatic night of rioting to date with nearly 1,500 vehicles burnt and nearly 400 arrests. Most attacks are now occurring far beyond the Paris area. Two policemen are seriously injured in clashes in town of Grigny, near Paris.

Chirac pledges to defeat rioters - Violence hits fresh peak

7 November: Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, 61, dies of injuries he received in an assault on Friday in the town of Stains, Seine-Saint-Denis. French media suggest he is the first fatality of the riots.

bbc.co.uk

KEY FLASHPOINTS

Aulnay-sous-Bois: Shots fired at police and cars and shops set ablaze. Further trouble in nearby suburbs, with shots fired at police

Dijon, Marseille, Nice and Strasbourg: Violence spreads outside Paris from 3 November

17e and 3e, Paris: Several cars set on fire in central areas overnight 5-6 November

Grigny: Clashes in the Paris suburb on 6-7 November leave 10 police injured, two seriously

Saint-Etienne: Arsonists destroy two schools and a bus on 6-7 November

Raincy: Curfew imposed on 7 November following rioting

Stains: 61-year old man dies of injuries after being attacked

Toulouse: Violence continues 7-8 Nov as rioters set fire to a bus

Lille: Creche burned down and vehicles destroyed on 7-8 November

Bordeaux: Employment agency office hit by a petrol bomb on 7-8 November

CURFEW LAW

Cabinet can declare state of emergency in all or part of the country

Regional leaders given exceptional powers to apply curfew and restrict movements

Breach of curfew could mean a fine or two-month jail sentence

Police can carry out raids on suspected weapons stockpiles

Interior minister can issue house-arrest warrants for persons considered dangerous to public safety

Public meeting places can be closed down

House searches possible day or night

Authorities can control press or broadcast media, film and theatre performances

State of emergency can only be extended beyond 12 days if approved by parliament

- BBC

so what does 13 days of rioting do
for a supposedly weak government?
people are now willing to accept martial law...

France: Rioting loses steam

09/11/2005 - France's storm of rioting lost strength today with a drop of nearly half in the number of car burnings, police said. But looters and vandals still defied a state of emergency with attacks on stores, a newspaper warehouse and a subway station. The extraordinary 12-day state of emergency went into effect at midnight yesterday, giving special powers to authorities in Paris, its suburbs and more than 30 other cities from the Mediterranean to the German border - an indication of how widespread arson, riots and other unrest have become in nearly two weeks of violence.

The emergency decree invoked a 50-year-old security law dating from France's colonial war in Algeria. It empowers officials to put troublemakers under house arrest, ban or limit the movement of people and vehicles, confiscate weapons and close public spaces where gangs gather.

Local officials could also choose to impose curfews. By midday today, only a few municipalities and regions had. Paris had not.

A poll published in today's daily Le Parisien said 73% of those asked agreed with the curfew.

The unrest started on October 27 as a localised riot in a northeast Paris suburb in anger over the accidental deaths of two teenagers, of Mauritanian and Tunisian descent, electrocuted while hiding from police in a power sub-station.

It has grown into a nationwide insurrection by disillusioned suburban youths, many of them French-born children of immigrants from France's former territories such as Algeria. France's suburbs have long been neglected, and their young people complain of widespread discrimination and a lack of jobs.

Overnight, youths torched 617 vehicles, down from 1,173 on Monday night, police said. Incidents were reported in 116 towns, down from 226. Police made 280 arrests, raising the total to 1,830 since the violence broke out 13 nights ago.

"The arrests are bearing fruit," said Interior Ministry spokesman Franck Louvrier. "It's clear there has been a significant drop, but we must persevere."

Christian Gaillard de Lavernee, head of the national civil security brigade, told reporters that firefighters responded to 30% fewer calls overnight than the previous day.

In some towns, concerned residents have banded together to keep overnight watch on public buildings and to patrol their neighbourhoods, armed only with fire extinguishers.

"We are not Rambos!" said Manuel Aeschliman, the mayor of Asnieres northwest of Paris, to a dozen volunteers as they set off on rounds. "No intervention - If you see something, call it in."

National Police Chief Michel Gaudin said an additional 1,000 officers were deployed overnight, bringing the total to 11,500. He attributed the drop in attacks to police sweeps and co-operation from community groups.

Riot police fired tear gas to disperse youths throwing petrol bombs in the southwestern city of Toulouse, and rioters used petrol bombs to blow up an unoccupied bus powered by natural-gas in the town of Bassens, near Bordeaux. No injuries were reported.

Subway service that had been shut down in the eastern city of Lyon resumed today after a firebomb exploded in a station late yesterday. No-one was injured, but city transport officials announced that bus and subway service will be halted each evening at 7pm local time at least until Sunday as a precaution.

Arsonists also set fire to a warehouse used by Nice-Matin newspaper in Grasse, national police spokesman Patrick Reydy said. Youths looted and set fire to a furniture and electronics store and an adjacent carpet store in Arras in the north, he said.

The northern city of Amiens, central Orleans and Savigny-sur-Orge, and the Essonne region south of the capital were putting into place curfews for minors, who must be accompanied by adults at night. Two cars burned in Amiens overnight despite the curfew, compared with six a night earlier, police said.

Curfew violators face up to two months in jail and a £2,500 (€3,700) fine, the Justice Ministry said. Minors face one month in jail.

The state-of-emergency law was drawn up to quell unrest in Algeria during its war of independence from France, and was last used in 1984 by President Francois Mitterrand against rioting in the French Pacific Ocean territory of New Caledonia. - IOL

so what else does 13 days of rioting acheive?
Bloggers can expect a crackdown on their freedom of expression

Prosecutors look into bloggers urging riots

Officials say two teens fomented revolt over the Internet

Updated: 5:06 p.m. ET Nov. 8, 2005 PARIS - Paris prosecutors opened an inquiry Tuesday into two young bloggers who they said urged French youths to riot and revolt against the police, a judicial official said.

The youths, a 16-year-old French teen and an 18-year-old with Ghanian nationality, were arrested Monday in the Paris region, said the official.

They were to be placed under investigation, a step short of formal charges, for inciting harm to people and property over the Internet, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because French law bars the disclosure of information from ongoing inquiries. Conviction on the charge could carry a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $52,800 fine.

The blog, called "hardcore," was run by the 18-year-old, and the younger teen posted comments on it, the official said. A 14-year-old was also questioned Monday in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence and was released.

During the rioting, bloggers have posted appeals for calm alongside insults targeting police, threats of more violence and warnings that the unrest will feed support for France's anti-immigration extreme right.

One of the blogs was called "sarkodead" — a reference to Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who inflamed passions when he called troublemakers "scum." Both "sarkodead" and "hardcore" were hosted by Skyblog, a branch of the popular Skyrock radio station.

The blogs were taken off line this weekend, and the radio station cooperated with police, judicial officials said. - msnbc

Sarkozy doesn't regret 'scum/rabble' comment

The controversial minister of the interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, who has led the hard line taken by the police, has called for "a rupture" with the traditional French way of doing things.

"Yes, the French social model has passed its time; yes, we need a policy of rupture; and yes, the word 'scum' (for the rioters) may well appear feeble to those who must go out each night onto the street to face the rioters," Sarkozy declared.

Sarkozy, who runs Chirac's UMP party machine and is already campaigning to succeed the president 18 months hence, makes no apology for using the word "racaille" (scum) to describe the rioters, though it has been widely condemned by the opposition parties, and some of the young rioters claim to have been inflamed by it.

Some claim the riots will continue until Sarkozy resigns or is fired. This not going to happen. Sarkozy is too popular with his tough measures winning 76 percent approval in the latest opinion polls. And as Sarkozy said (according to the weekly current affairs journal Le Point) of his political rival, the prime minister, "Dominique de Villepin would not last 10 minutes if I have to leave this government." - more - upi.com

Police show true colours

Cameras capture racist taunts of anti-riot police

From Charles Bremner in Paris

Aggressive police making flippant remarks about teenagers' electrocution and a minister who talked of 'scum' are accused of inflaming the violence THE exchange could hardly have been worse for the French police as they strive to allay their reputation as enemy of the ethnic estates.

TF1, the television channel, showed a young Arab in the outskirts of Lyons objecting politely about the insulting manner of an officer who had demanded his identity papers.

"You want me to take you to a transformer?" the officer sneers back, referring to the electricity station where two teenagers were electrocuted while fleeing an identity check. The incident sparked the riots. "We don't give a s*** if your estate calms down," added the officer, using the disrespectful "tu" rather than "vous". "In fact, the more it gets f****d up the happier we are."

The episode hardly conveyed the responsible manner for which the Government has been congratulating the hard-pressed forces de l'ordre during the ethnic rioting that broke out in response to the teenagers' deaths on October 27. It did illustrate the wall of incomprehension that separates the white French police from the inhabitants of the sprawling estates whose young men have gone on the rampage.

From Marseilles in the south to Lille in the north, the kids on the troubled cites say that brutal policing is a big source of their anger. "Casser les keufs" - beating up cops - is what they like doing best, say the young wreckers. "We torch a car and when the keufs turn up, the fun starts," a teenager said with typical bravado at a northeast Paris estate. The police are hated for their forays into the estates in number to stage aggressive identity checks.

The main target are the body-armoured men of the Compagnies Republicaines de Securite (CRS), the national riot police who have borne the brunt of the violence. "They see us like a rival tribe invading their territory. It's a test of their manhood to fight us," said a CRS major as his men entered battle with the boys of the Aulnay-sous-Bois estate last week.

The CRS, who live in barracks and rarely know the neighbourhoods in which they are deployed, have softened their tactics since the days of pitched street battles between demonstrators and phalanxes of baton-wielding officers. In the 1968 student revolt, the demonstrators taunted les flics by chanting "CRS-SS" and then waited for the charge.

Most of the 9,500 riot police and gendarmes deployed this month are being sent out in small patrols, sometimes on foot and carrying their helmets to reduce provocation despite the danger of injury from projectiles. Commanders have drummed into their men the need to avoid excessive force that could lead to injury and provoke even more violence.

There is no doubt, however, that the riots of 2005 have exposed a failure of policing. The roots go back to France's traditional distrust of state authority and a history of heavy-handed, brutal and sometimes murderous enforcement. Cherished fictional heroes such as Commissaire Maigret are exceptions to the rule that the police are not much respected or admired in France. A distinction can be made for the Gendarmerie, a separate military command, that polices the countryside.

One man in particular is being blamed: Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister. His error, in the view of many mayors and experts, was dismantling the so-called Proximity Police, a scheme for community policing that was launched by the Socialist Government in the late 1990s. Appointed by President Chirac in 2002 with a mandate to crack down on crime, especially in the lawless ethnic estates, M Sarkozy said scarce resources must go to enforcement. "The police are not there to be social workers. They are there to arrest crooks," he said.

CANDID CONFRONTATION

THIS is an extract of a verbal exchange between police and estate teenagers near Lyons, shown on the TF1 television channel.First a boy addresses a police officer who has demanded the boy's papers in rough terms - using the disrespectful "tu" instead of a formal "vous" - and told him to "shut your face"

First boy: "You (Vous) tell us to 'shut your face' and we haven't done anything, Monsieur"

Policeman: "You want me to take you into an electricity sub-station?" (where two teenagers were electrocuted)

First boy: "Sorry Monsieur, you are being rude and I haven't spoken to you, M'sieur"

Policeman: "In that case don't talk. We're telling you to get back, so get back"

First boy: "Listen Monsieur, we are using 'vous' with you but you and your colleague are using 'tu' with us. We are respectful . . ."

A second boy insults a bald policeman, saying: "Good for you, you've got cancer, you're all bald"

Second policeman: "So you want to go and fry with your mates? You want to go into the transformer? Shut your ugly mug, we're going to give you a going over"

First boy: "If that's the way it is, do you think that the estate will calm down?"

Third policeman: "We don't give a shit if the estate calms down or not. Actually, the more it gets f****d up, the happier we are"

Note: It appeared that the polite boy knew that the television camera was there - but the police did not - times online

Chirac talks to Putin - gets advice - how comforting...

Putin, Chirac discuss riots in France over telephone

MOSCOW, Nov. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with his French counterpart Jacques Chirac on Thursday to discuss the unrest situation in France and Russia's upcoming presidency in the Group of Eight, the presidential press service reported.

During the conversation, Putin expressed confidence that measures taken by the French leadership, which have already given noticeable results, will lead to a complete stabilization in the country in the near future.

Chirac, for his part, expressed gratitude for Russia's sympathy and solidarity. In addition, the French president praised interaction between the two countries: the contacts have intensified and allowed both states to solved the existing problems.

The two heads of state also discussed, among other international cooperation, Russia's upcoming chairmanship of the G-8. Chirac gave a high assessment to Russia's preparations for the St. Petersburg summit to be held in the summer of 2006. - xinhuanet.

"significant fall" after state-of-emergency introduced - er really?

Violence declines in France after curfew

PARIS, Nov. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- There was a "significant fall" in the level of violence in French towns and cities overnight, a day after state-of-emergency measures were introduced, said French National Police chief Michel Gaudin on Thursday.

On the 14th night of unrest, 482 cars were torched, down from 617 on the previous night and the number of arrests made went down form 330 to 203, announced the police.

Thirty-two mayors declared curfews in their towns or cities according to a central government decree issued on Wednesday, which, invoking a 1955 emergency law, empowers local authorities to declare curfews if they judge necessary.

Under the state of emergency, local authorities can put troublemakers under house arrest, ban or limit the movement of people and vehicles, confiscate weapons and ban "meetings likely to provoke or fuel disorder."

The riots in France started on Oct. 27 as youths in the poor northeastern suburbs of Paris went angry over the accidental deaths of two teenagers.

They were quickly spread nationwide with arson attacks and clashes with police, mainly by Arab and black youths complaining of economic misery and racial discrimination. xinhuanet

Protestors outnumbered by State thugs
The Elite protect themselves on Armistice Day

Sit-In Protest Near Eiffel Tower

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press Writer PARIS Nov 11, 2005 - Police tightened security in central Paris on Friday with riot forces and bomb squads along the Champs-Elysees, and angry residents of riot-torn suburbs staged a sit-in Friday near the Eiffel Tower, calling for an end to more than two weeks of arson and vandalism across France.

The moves came as the wave of violence that spread outward from Paris's impoverished outlying neighborhoods appeared to be calming in other French cities but remained persistent in the capital.

"Stop the Violence," read one banner draped on the Wall of Peace near the Eiffel Tower. Some of the 200 demonstrators a small turnout in protest-friendly France waved white flags.

The dozens of civic groups timed their demonstrations to coincide with official military commemorations for Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I. Hours before the sit-in, bomb squad police with dogs and metal-detecting wands screened spectators as a military parade processed down the famed Paris avenue.

"Today, we don't want an armistice we want peace," national police chief Michel Gaudin said. "An armistice is a temporary halt. What we want is definitive peace for the suburbs."

Police blocked off large swaths of central Paris, with trucks of riot police also deployed near the presidential palace. Some 715 officers brought in from other districts raised the full deployment to 2,220.

Residents representing nearly 160 suburban communities were to stage a sit-in Friday afternoon at the Wall of Peace on the Champ de Mars, near the Eiffel Tower, and possibly hold a peace march.

[snip]

March organizer Banlieues Respects, a group whose name means "Suburb Respect," issued a statement urging "an immediate end to the violence and for peace to return to the neighborhoods where our parents, brothers and sisters have lived for the past two weeks in a climate of uncertainty." - ABC

Gatherings banned in Paris - let's see them try to enforce that!

Tourchings rise as police face feared attacks

12/11/2005 - The number of cars torched overnight in France climbed slightly, to 502 compared with 463 the previous day, in a 16th night of unrest that took its heaviest toll on the French provinces, police said today.

But security was boosted in the capital, with some 3,000 police officers fanning out around strategic points to counter feared weekend attacks targeting Paris.

Gatherings were banned from Saturday morning until Sunday morning. - IOL

Petrol bombs thrown - at a mosque...hey...wait a minute...

Paris bans rallies to avert riots

Residents of riot hotspots called for an end to the violence A ban on all public meetings likely to provoke disturbances has come into effect in the French capital.

The move - imposed under new emergency measures - started at 0900 GMT and will remain in force until Sunday morning. Police say the ban was introduced after calls for "violent acts" in Paris were found in e-mails and text messages.

Rioting that erupted two weeks ago is now less intense across France, but unrest continued on Friday night, as more than 500 cars were set on fire. Two police officers were wounded and 206 people were detained across the country. This was an increase on the previous night, when 395 vehicles were torched and 168 people were arrested.

Security checks

Petrol bombs were also thrown at a mosque in the southern town of Carpentras during prayers on Friday, causing minor damage. However, it was unclear if the attack was linked to the wider unrest, which has involved mainly youths from ethnic minorities living in deprived areas.

Thousands of police have been deployed in Paris, where they stopped cars and carried out identity checks overnight. The situation was "calm with nothing to report", Paris police said on Friday night.

Police have blocked large areas of central Paris ahead of ceremonies to commemorate the end of World War I.

They have also increased surveillance of the underground train system in the capital. The government has declared a state of emergency in Paris and more than 30 other areas to help quell the unrest, in some areas using curfews to ban youths from the streets at night.

The nightly protests have gripped deprived areas where unemployment is rife and residents complain of racism and discrimination. The unrest was first sparked by the deaths in the run-down Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois of two youths, who were accidentally electrocuted at an electricity sub-station. Locals said they were fleeing police, but the police deny this.

On Thursday, President Jacques Chirac acknowledged that France had "undeniable problems" in poor city areas and must respond effectively.

Mr Chirac defended his use of state-of-emergency legislation, and said the priority was still to restore order. - BBC

Expulsion - the language of Le Pen from the mouth of Sarkozy

Expulsion vow from French Interior Minister

11.11.05 PARIS - Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered the expulsion of all foreigners convicted of involvement in the French riots. Sarkozy told the National Assembly that 122 foreigners had been convicted of roles in the unrest.

"I have asked that foreigners here legally or illegally, who have been convicted, be expelled without delay from our territory," he said.

The order would also include those foreigners with a residency permit, Sarkozy said.

"For when one has the honour of a residency permit, the least one can say is one shouldn't be going around getting arrested for urban violence." Sarkozy did not give the nationalities of any of the foreigners whose expulsion he had ordered or how many faced being thrown out.

Sarkozy's earlier promise to wash the "scum" from rioting suburban areas has been widely criticised for provoking violence. - nzherald

The Le Pen answer is to add another 200,000 prison places across France; bring back the death penalty; lower the age of criminal responsibility; end legal immigration; expel illegal immigrants; and restrict citizenship to the children of French citizens or "to those who deserve it". In other words, make life difficult for the country's North African population

why he has his admirers [The economist]

Sarkosky told parliament that 120 non-French teenagers - "not all of whom are here illegally" - had been convicted of involvement in the nightly rampages since October 27.

He said: "I have asked the prefets to deport them from our national territory without delay, including those who have a residency visa."

The Interior Ministry announced today that eight French police officers have been suspended for their role in the alleged beating of a young man during riots in La Courneuve, one of the Parisian suburbs at the heart of the troubles, on November 7. Two officers are accused of dealing "unwarranted blows" to the teenager, while the remaining six were witnesses to the alleged incident, according to a statement from the ministry. - from the Times

Riots politically useful tool for repression masked as 'anti terrorism'

The French government decided to adopt a hard line against rioters, and the last surveys indicate that three out of four French citizens support the introduction of curfews in the affected suburbs. The coming days will probably be decisive to assess the efficiency of such measures. Should the move fail, the revolt could spread further and even pave the way for foreign activists with plans of terrorism (as French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy suggests).

As the 2007 general election approaches, look for immigration and integration issues to take central stage permanently in the French political debate. Depending on the chosen national policies in these fields, expect France to try to influence its European partners to introduce new European legislation on immigration issues, and, if such an attempt fails, to enhance its own national program even in opposition of Brussels.

Since the French right-wing is split among many factions, be prepared for a harsh battle inside the French Right. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is probably the one who risks the most in the present phase for the simple reason of being the prime minister during this time. If the security issue does not get solved rapidly, his entire political agenda will be severely hampered and his ambitious industrial policy will be difficult to maintain.

Moreover, given the loss of momentum of Jean-Marie Le Pen's rightist National Front, an interesting competition will take place between the neo-liberal Nicolas Sarkozy and the Catholic sovereignist leader Philippe de Villiers. - pinr.com

French police fire tear gas as unrest hits Lyon

By Emmanuel Jarry - PARIS, Nov 12 (Reuters) - French security forces fired tear gas to disperse youths in Lyon on Saturday in the first sign of unrest in a city centre after more than two weeks of civil disturbances in outlying suburbs of towns and cities.

Ten people were arrested in France's second city after 50 youths attacked stalls and damaged vehicles, police and witnesses said, adding that the situation later calmed down.

In a 17th night of violence, 76 cars were torched around the country and a riot policeman was injured after being hit by a metal ball thrown from an apartment block in a suburb outside Paris, police said.

A school was also burned down in Carpentras, a town in southern France where on Friday two firebombs were thrown at a mosque in an incident condemned by President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and religious leaders.

Rioting by youths angered by unemployment, racism and lack of opportunities has generally dropped in intensity since Chirac's government announced emergency measures, including curfews, on Tuesday.

After violence rose slightly on Friday, regional authorities for the first time declared a curfew for minors in Lyon, a city of 1.2 million southeast of Paris.

Thousands of French police patrolled central Paris on Saturday to enforce a ban on large gatherings and prevent the unrest reaching the heart of the capital, including targets such as the Eiffel Tower.

Police said they had monitored calls for violence on Internet sites and that potential targets included the Champs Elysees and the Eiffel Tower.

By 11 p.m. (2200 GMT) there were no reports of disturbances in central Paris, though Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy was heckled when he inspected security forces in the Champs Elysees by people who called for his resignation, witnesses said. - alertnet.org

French govt proposes to extend state of emergency

14/11/2005 - Youths set schools ablaze and torched cars as scattered arson attacks persisted across France early today, and the government said it would propose extending the country's state of emergency by three months.

Despite a sharp fall in unrest, the Cabinet was to propose a bill today allowing a 12-day state of emergency to be prolonged until mid-February, said government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope. The measure empowers regions to impose curfews on minors and conduct house searches.

Overnight, the number of car-torchings - a barometer of the unrest - dropped sharply, with youths setting fire to 284 vehicles, compared to 374 the previous night.

"The lull is confirmed," national police spokesman Patrick Hamon said. A week ago, 1,400 cars were incinerated in a single night.

The 18 nights of arson attacks and riots - set off by the accidental electrocution deaths of two teenagers who thought police were chasing them - began in Paris' poor suburbs, where many immigrants from North and West Africa live with their French-born children in high-rise housing projects.

France's worst unrest since the 1968 student-worker protests is forcing the country to confront decades of simmering anger over racial discrimination, crowded housing and unemployment.

In scattered attacks overnight, vandals in the southern city of Toulouse rammed a car into a primary school before setting the building on fire.

In northern France, arsonists set fire to a sports centre in the suburb of Faches-Thumesnil and a school in the town of Halluin, the North regional government said. A gas canister exploded inside a burning rubbish bin in the Alpine city of Grenoble, injuring two police officers, the national police said, adding that three other officers were injured elsewhere.

Since the beginning of the unrest, 2,767 people have been arrested.

Violence has decreased steadily since France declared a state of emergency on Wednesday. The measure is set to end on November 20, but government spokesman Cope said the Cabinet would adopt a bill today to prolong the state of emergency "for a period of three months, starting on November 21".

Cope said the bill, which must be approved by parliament, would leave open the possibility of ending the emergency measures before three months are up, if order is restored. Officials already are turning their attention to helping riot-hit towns recover: European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso proposed Sunday that the European Union give €50m to France, and said it could make up to €1bn available in longer-term support for suburban jobs and social cohesion.

Later today, President Jacques Chirac was to make a televised statement about the violence - his third public comment since the unrest began, the Elysee Palace said.

Within the next few days, France is expected to start deporting foreigners implicated in the violence, a plan by law-and-order Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy that has raised concerns among human rights groups, and questions among other ministers. Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said he agreed that illegal immigrants could be sent home, but not foreigners with permission to live in France.

"A French person who carried out a crime or a misdemeanour in France cannot be treated in one way while a foreigner with papers in order is treated in another," he said. "It's not possible." - IOL

...as riots subside more fuses are lit

French minister says polygamy to blame for riots

By Martin Arnold in Paris Published: November 15 2005

France's employment minister on Tuesday fingered polygamy as one reason for the rioting in the country.

Gérard Larcher said multiple marriages among immigrants was one reason for the racial discrimination which ethnic minorities faced in the job market. Overly large polygamous families sometimes led to anti-social behaviour among youths who lacked a father figure, making employers wary of hiring ethnic minorities, he explained.

The minister, speaking to a group of foreign journalists as the government stepped up efforts to improve its image with the foreign media, said: "Since part of society displays this anti-social behaviour, it is not surprising that some of them have difficulties finding work ... Efforts must be made by both sides. If people are not employable, they will not be employed."

The riots, and the government's slow reaction to the violence, has led to widespread criticism that France's ruling class is out of touch with the rest of the country. Mr Larcher's comments could further fuel the debate and are likely to outrage Muslim and anti-racism groups in France.

They also come as the government considers tightening visa-granting rules and a possible clampdown on polygamous families already living in France.

Although polygamy is illegal in France, visas were granted freely to family members of immigrants until 1993, when visas were banned for more than one spouse. Many wives continued to enter illegally, however and a clampdown, if enforced, could affect families that entered the country before 1993.

Politicians estimate there are 10,000-20,000 polygamous families in France, most from North and sub-Saharan African countries such as Algeria, Mali and Senegal, where the practice is legal.

Polygamy is a taboo subject for most mainstream French politicians. Far-right groups, however, have seized on it to argue that immigrants abuse the French social security system by collecting state benefits for several wives.

The government has also been criticised for refusing to closely analyse demographic patterns in France in order to better integrate minorities. But Mr Larcher said France was so traumatised by the Vichy government's expulsion of French Jews to German concentration camps during the second world war that it still found it unpalatable to allow information to be collected on people's ethnic origins.

He acknowledged that the unemployment rate among young people in France was twice the national average, but said other European countries faced similar problems. He also pointed the finger at the US, where he said the unemployment rate among blacks aged 16-19 was twice that of their white counterparts.

His comments came as Dominique de Villepin, prime minister, made his first visit to the poor Paris suburbs since rioting erupted almost three weeks ago.

Although the unrest has abated substantially in recent days, the French parliament on Tuesday approved a law prolonging by three months the life of a controversial 1955 curfew law. - ft.com

French continue emergency laws

French parliament votes to continue emergency laws

15/11/2005 - France's lower house of parliament voted today to extend a state of emergency for three months, after the government said that the extra powers were still needed to end the country's worst civil unrest in four decades.

The National Assembly voted 346-148 for the extension. The opposition Socialist Party opposed an extension, saying emergency measures were no longer needed because rioting was abating.

The extension was eventually passed with support from President Jacques Chirac's governing conservatives, backed by centrist lawmakers. The Senate will examine the measure on Wednesday. - IOL

even though things are back to a normal level

French violence falls to normal level, police say

PARIS, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Urban violence has dropped to normal levels in France after three weeks of unrest in its run-down suburbs, police said on Thursday.

Ninety-eight vehicles were set ablaze on Wednesday night, a sharp drop from the peak of the violence when about 1,400 vehicles were torched on the night of Nov. 6. Police detained 33 people during the night.

"The situation has returned to normal because about 100 vehicles are set on fire each night in France," a police spokesman said.

Violence erupted on Oct. 27 after the accidental deaths of two youths electrocuted while apparently fleeing police.

The rioting has been blamed mostly on youths who feel excluded from mainstream society and are frustrated by racism, harsh police treatment and high unemployment. Many of the rioters are of Arab and African origin but some are white.

Urban unrest has receded since the government adopted emergency measures including curfews last week, although few areas have used the anti-riot powers.

The Senate approved a government law on Wednesday extending the measures for three months, completing the bill's passage through parliament. - reuters

France 'faces real and serious terror threat'

17/11/2005 - France faces a serious and real threat of a terror attack, Interior Ministry Nicolas Sarkozy said today.

"The threat is serious," Sarkozy said in a speech opening a seminar of terrorism. "The risk of violent action on our territory is real."

It was not the first time that Sarkozy or other government officials have said France faced a terrorist threat.

The minister is pushing a bill to boost France's anti-terror legislation, including increased use of video surveillance. - IOL

- Interpol chiefs warn of bioterror attack risk

Morrocco arrests 17 including 2 Guantanamo ex detainees. The arrests were announced hours after French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy concluded a meeting with his Moroccan counterpart, Mustapha Sahel, devoted mainly to the fight against terrorism

Poll suggests shift to right as voters back Chirac's crackdown

Jon Henley in Paris November 21, 2005 -The Guardian

After three weeks of urban violence that saw nearly 10,000 cars go up in flames and some 3,000 mainly immigrant youths arrested, a large majority of French voters firmly back the government's tough law-and-order stance and would favour even stricter controls on immigration, a poll showed yesterday.

Asked by a newspaper whether France was swinging to the right, a political analyst, Dominique Reynié, said: "Yes. There is a strong tendency to shift rightwards, partly for demographic reasons - the French are getting older, and an ageing nation is a frightened nation. This has been accentuated by the crisis in the suburbs. The shock of November 2005 will stay with us."

According to the survey, by the CSA group for the popular daily Le Parisien, 68% of the electorate support the centre-right cabinet's decision to prolong state-of-emergency powers, which allow local authorities to impose curfews if considered necessary, by a further three months, despite a continuing sharp fall in the number of arson and other attacks.

Some 55% approve of the interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy's order that all non-French citizens convicted of participating in the riots, including those with residence permits, should be immediately expelled from France, while 56% would like to see more restrictive rules on the right of foreign relatives to join their family.

Support for the government's measures is by no means restricted to the right and far-right, the CSA poll suggested, with 55% of Socialist supporters, 51% of Green party voters and 75% of more radical far-left supporters expressing approval for an extended state of emergency.

But almost all voters also backed moves to try to achieve a better social and ethnic mix in communities around the country by forcing local mayors to ensure that at least 20% of their housing stock is subsidised, low-rent accommodation, and nearly 90% approved of President Jacques Chirac's plan for a civil volunteer force to familiarise disadvantaged youths with France's republican values and prepare them better for the job market. guardian.co.uk

French MPs back surveillance plan

Sarkozy started drafting the bill in the wake of the London bombings

France's lawmakers have voted to accept anti-terror measures which would boost video surveillance in public places.

The bill will allow cameras to be used on public transport and in places of worship, shops and other public areas. The bill has been criticised by civil rights groups, but Mr Sarkozy says it strikes the right balance between security and personal freedoms. The house will take a final vote on the whole bill on Tuesday. The upper house will discuss it in January. Mr Sarkozy told parliament the country should brace itself for a terror attack.

"We are not in the least protected from this war because its instigators are unpredictable," the interior minister said. "The possibility of violent acts being committed on our soil is a real one."

British model

Mr Sarkozy started drawing up the new laws in the wake of the London bombings and was reportedly inspired by Britain's subsequent inquiry, in which CCTV footage played a major role in tracking down the perpetrators. The new plans would also allow private companies to install cameras outside their premises, granting the police access to all the footage. At present, there are only about 60,000 CCTVs in France, compared with between 4m and 7m in the UK. - BBC

Sarkozy wants new-look presidency

Jan 13th 2006 - French interior minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy has outlined ideas to reform the job. Mr Sarkozy said future presidents should take a greater role in the day-to-day governing of the country.

In a new year's address, he also said he would reform the immigration system, and increase the number of deportations from under 20,000 to 25,000 next year.

[my note: what if there are less people to dport Nicky? you gonna start rounding up people indiscriminately to meet your targets? dur!]

And he urged the European Union to halt enlargement until it had reformed its institutions.

But he said that this should not interfere with the pace of progress among larger nations, such as France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy and Poland, who should form a "strategic partnership" and play a genuine role as the engine of the EU.

Role reversal

The minister said last autumn's urban rioting reflected years of political failure, and he called for a shake-up of France's power structure. "Rather than a president who presides, we need a president who leads. The future president will inevitably be different from the ones who came before," Mr Sarkozy said.

Mr Sarkozy has made no secret of his intention to run for president in elections next year, and his comments will be seen as a thinly veiled attack on President Jacques Chirac, says the BBC's Alasdair Sandford in Paris. In addition, Mr Sarkozy said, parliament should take on the presidential role of determining foreign and defence policy. The prime minister's role should be reduced to that of governmental co-ordinator.

In what was seen as a reference to Mr Chirac, who has not ruled out running for president for a third time, Mr Sarkozy said presidential mandates should be restricted to two. "The energy spent on staying [in power] is not spent on doing," he said.

On his immigration proposals, including a new bill to be presented to the cabinet in February, Mr Sarkozy said immigration was something that could bring dynamism to the French economy, if the right people were attracted. - BBC

Student protests over 'Anglo-Saxon' job laws

By Colin Randall, Paris March 16, 2006

THOUSANDS of students marched through Paris and blockaded universities across France as their revolt against the Government over a controversial new youth employment law intensified.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has staked his reputation, and possibly his job, on a measure that aims to cut rampant youth unemployment with two-year contracts that enable employers to sidestep rigid French labour laws and fire young workers without reason.

It has provoked violent protests and on Tuesday, riot police were on standby in the capital.

"This is not 1968 all over again," said a Sorbonne University student, referring to the tumultuous Paris spring riots. Elodie, 21, a sociology student, said: "The issues are different from those our parents were protesting about. We are marching for the right to proper jobs."

Romain, 20, a communications student, said: "We don't want the Anglo-Saxon economic model here. The protests will be kept up as long as necessary but we are not trying to bring down the Government, just to get them to withdraw this bad law."

Despite a weekend operation by riot police to end a student occupation of the Sorbonne, and clashes at the neighbouring College de France, the protests have spread to other parts of the country.

More than half of France's 84 state universities are strikebound or engulfed by demonstrators.

Amid gathering unrest on the streets, President Jacques Chirac pledged his support to the beleaguered centre-right Government.

"I support totally and without reservations the action carried out by the Prime Minister and Government," he said during a visit to Berlin.

The protests have mushroomed into the biggest test of Mr de Villepin's 10 months in office, prompting speculation about his future.

With more demonstrations scheduled for today and Saturday, Mr Chirac ended a long silence over protests and backed the youth jobs contract as "an important element" in the fight against youth unemployment.

Protesters, trade unions and opposition politicians say the new contract makes it easier to fire young workers, while Mr de Villepin argues that it encourages firms to hire and helps to cut youth unemployment, currently at about 23 per cent.

theage.com.au

Chirac calls for talks as student protests grow

Fri. Mar. 17 2006 CTV.ca News Staff

French President Jacques Chirac called for urgent talks between government ministers and student union groups Friday as protestors clashed with police over a controversial new labour law.

"The government is ready for dialogue. For my part, I hope it starts as quickly as possible," Chirac said.

His comments came after at least 300 people were arrested across the country during protests over new laws that would make it easier for employers to fire workers under 26.

The violence began last weekend when riot police stormed the Sorbonne University in Paris after at least 200 students barricaded themselves into a classroom.

Police used tear gas to remove the demonstrators, who threw furniture and ladders out of the windows.

Clashes have continued all week, with many of the demonstrations taking place around the Sorbonne.

The worst violence was on Thursday, when police blasted crowds of youth with water cannons and tear gas, while the protestors returned fire with stones and set cars on fire.

At least 50 police officers have been injured in the clashes, officials said.

France's main student union has condemned the riots, which French officials claimed was due to the actions of just a few dissidents.

"There was a demonstration that went smoothly, and then there were a few delinquents who came to pick a fight," Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters Thursday.

Chirac appealed for calm, but maintained his support for the new work contract, calling it "an important element in the policy of fighting unemployment," and adding it "will create new jobs for young people who are today largely left out of the job market."

On Saturday, French police will likely face the largest protests yet, when student groups and unions plan to stage unified protests.

The government could pay a political price if it is unable to defuse the growing unrest across the country.

The man who is widely seen as Chirac's preferred successor -- Dominique de Villepin -- is also supporting the new proposals, and his presidential ambitions could suffer if the government is unable to contain the growing protests.

The contract de Villepin and Chirac are pushing would allow employers to fire younger workers within the first two years of their employment, without having to provide a reason or explanation.

The French government insists the law will actually stimulate job creation by encouraging employers to hire younger people.

Unemployment among young adults is currently at a dismal 23 per cent, and is twice that amount in low income suburbs, many of which have high immigrant populations.

Those areas were the scene of massive riots last year, and the new contract is one way the government responded to the riots.

However, France's young people cherish current strong labour laws which make it difficult for employers to fire workers and fear the new contract will undermine the strength of those laws.

Villepin said he is willing to discuss the framework of the law and look at ways to improve it, but has not signalled any intention to cave in to demonstrators' demands to back away from the plan.

ctv.ca

UK & US coverage of French revolt "reserved" say Liberation

http://libcom.org 18 March, 2006

French paper Liberation reviews international coverage of the French CPE crisis:

From the New York Times to the London Times, Fridays Anglo-Saxon press is very reserved in its coverage of the anti-CPE revolt in the streets of Paris and elsewhere.

Students, CRS, banners and rioting - all the stereotypes of the French demonstration are expressed. "The French in the street, but its not 68″ says the headline of New York Times. The article explains why, some 38 years after the revolutionary spring of May 68, the young people of 2006 are no longer soft idealists dreaming to change the world.

"The objective of the students this time is much more modest", writes their correspondent in France. And it quotes a trade-union official from UNEF (student union): "Our revolt is not to obtain more. But to keep what we have."

The Financial Times adopts a more political angle and sees concern for Domenique de Villepin. "the assertion of Mr. de Villepin, who insists that that the CPE will be helpful, is crushed more and more by an increasing opposition of the young unemployed of the poor suburbs" note the journalists of the FT.

"Interviewed this week by the Financial Times, the young disenchanted people of the Clichy-sous-bois suburb of Paris, are practically all opposed to the contract. Many stress that they will refuse to a job with the new contract" continues the paper.

"The French students return to the street" says the Times, with the photograph to support. The correspondent of the London daily newspaper in Paris lengthily analyzes the political awkwardnesses of the French Prime Minister. In his blog, Charles Bremner dares a parallel with the storming of the Bastille. The Guardian finds that the quarrel between students and trade unions dissatisfied on one side, and the government on the other, is of an importance such as to pose deep questions that go beyond the borders of France. "Because of its tendency to polarize and dramatize politics, France always had the capacity to show the rest of the world the really significant questions". libcom.org

more pictures, articles & responses

Students and unions jubilant at Paris protests

By Martin Arnold in Paris - Published: March 28 2006

French students and trades unions were in jubilant mood on Tuesday after more than 1m people took to the streets in protest against government labour reforms.

Despite the record turnout, Dominique de Villepin, the embattled prime minister, appeared to stand firm, brushing aside calls from members of the governing party to reach a compromise about his youth employment law. "The republic is not about preconditions, it is not about ultimatums," he told parliament.

There is mounting speculation that President Jacques Chirac, who yesterday cancelled a trip to be able to remain in Paris, could intervene in regard to the crisis. However, the president seems unlikely to take a decision until a constitutional court ruling on Thursday upon the validity of the new law.

Nicolas Sarkozy, interior minister and Mr de Villepin's biggest rival for next year's presidential election, on Tuesday suggested a temporary suspension of the law during negotiations with unions.

Violence erupted in central Paris again, adding a sour note to the demonstrations that students and unions said attracted 3m people across France. In Paris, police arrested more than 100 people after gangs of youths - most from poor suburbs - disrupted the march. Police stepped up their presence at railway stations to intercept the casseurs - or troublemakers - and used paint balls filled with indelible ink to identify the mostly hooded figures trying to rob student protesters and smashing shop windows. Police also fired teargas.

Bernard Thibault, head of the communist CGT union, said: "We are more than 3m people today in the streets; it is historic. It is unthinkable that the prime minister will keep up his limpet-like attachment to his position." Police estimates put the number of protesters considerably lower.

Unions will meet today to decide their next steps if the government were to refuse to accept their demands for withdrawal of the first job contract - the CPE - that would allow companies to sack young workers more easily during a two-year trial.

France was also hit by widespread strikes in public transport, schools and many state-owned companies. Air traffic was heavily disrupted after 30 per cent of air traffic controllers went on strike. In Paris, about two-thirds of metro trains, regional trains and buses were running.

The government may be hoping that the constitutional court gives it an exit route from the crisis by blocking the law. However, few legal experts expect it to declare the law unconstitutional, either because it discriminates against people aged under 26 or because it allows people to be sacked for no reason.

Eric Woerth, a centre-right UMP deputy and close ally of Mr Sarkozy, said the idea of a temporary suspension of the labour law was "the best way for everyone to get out of this crisis with their heads held high".

Mr de Villepin triggered a walk-out of parliament by the centrist UDF party when he left questions from opposition parties to his ministers and only answered those from his own party. He repeated his offer to "improve" the contract during talks with unions, without changing the contract's fundamental shape.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, leader of the parliamentary Socialist party, called on him to "forget your pride, make peace with the French people". - ft.com

Another Nationwide Strike Disrupts France

By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Associated Press Writer - 4th April 2006 - PARIS -

A nationwide strike shut down the Eiffel Tower and snarled air and rail travel for the second time in a week Tuesday while students barricaded themselves in schools to protest a jobs measure that has riven the country and put the government in crisis mode.

Protesters have mounted ever-larger demonstrations for two months against the law, which would make it easier to fire young workers. But President Jacques Chirac signed it anyway Sunday, saying it will help France keep pace with the global economy.

He offered modifications, but students and unions rejected them, saying they want the law withdrawn, not softened.

"What Chirac has done is not enough," said Rebecca Konforti, 18, who was among a group of students who jammed tables against the door of their high school in southern Paris to block entry. "They're not really concessions. He just did it to calm the students."

By midday, police said at least 100,000 people had hit French streets, including buoyant students parading through Marseille under a sunny southern sky and major marches from Nantes in the west to Saint-Etienne in the southeast. Protests even reached the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where 2,000 people marched.

Some 60 students lobbed eggs and other objects at police in the northern city of Lille, and at least one person was detained.

Organizers, who said the turnout was in the hundreds of thousands, hoped it would exceed the 1 million who marched last week. The afternoon march in Paris promised to be the biggest, and the city deployed 4,000 police to avert violence that marred previous protests.

Police actively looked to thwart troublemakers. At Paris' Saint-Lazare station, riot officers with weapons and a police dog pulled over train travelers disembarking from the suburbs, searching their bags and checking identities.

Tourists, meanwhile, stood bewildered before closed gates at the Eiffel Tower. Parisian commuters flattened themselves onto limited subway trains. Garbage bins in some Paris neighborhoods stood overflowing and uncollected by striking sanitation workers.

Irish budget airline Ryanair canceled all its flights in and out of France.

The strike appeared weaker, however, than last week's action. Signs of a possible breakthrough began to emerge as labor leaders suggested they could hold talks with lawmakers after Tuesday's demonstrations.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin devised the disputed "first job contract" as a bid to boost the economy and stem chronic youth unemployment. He maintains it would encourage hiring by allowing employers to fire workers under 26 during their first two years on a job without giving a reason. The measure is meant to cut a 22 percent unemployment rate among youths that reaches 50 percent in some poor, heavily immigrant neighborhoods. Villepin has cited the national statistics agency as saying it would create up to 80,000 new jobs at zero cost to the state.

Critics say it threatens France's hallmark labor protections, and the crisis has severely damaged Villepin's political reputation.

Chirac stepped in Friday to order two major modifications - reducing a trial period of two years to one year and forcing employers to explain any firings - in hopes of defusing the crisis. In so doing, he dealt a blow to Villepin, his one-time top aide and apparent choice as successor next year. In an apparent first in France, Chirac signed the original measure into law this weekend, as promised, but also effectively suspended it with an order that it not be applied. The 73-year-old president's legal sleight of hand kept the law alive while a new version is in the works.

Now that the law has been signed, protesters have less maneuvering room. The government appeared to be hoping that protests would die down after Tuesday's big event and was looking to possible talks between more moderate unions and lawmakers led by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy, a leading presidential hopeful, is the only senior government official unscathed by the crisis.

The head of the governing UMP party's bloc in parliament, Bernard Accoyer, told reporters he had invited labor leaders to talks.

Two labor leaders - CFDT union chief Francois Chereque and CGT union chief Bernard Thibault - suggested they would attend. But both said they hoped the law eventually would be rejected. - news.yahoo.com

Sarkozy says cure for crisis is more reform

By Martin Arnold in Paris Published: April 5 2006

Nicolas Sarkozy, France's interior minister, on Wednesday sought to distance himself from his country's discredited political establishment by calling for constitutional reform as the crisis over labour reforms intensified.

Dominique de Villepin, prime minister and Mr Sarkozy's main rival for next year's presidential elections, will on Thursday try to salvage his premiership by launching policies on jobs and education. But the prime minister's problems mounted after students and trade unions set a deadline of April 15 for repeal of the contentious youth labour law.

Mr Sarkozy, leader of the ruling centre-right UMP party, said constitutional reform would address the "crisis of political representation" which, he claimed, had opened a gap between voters and politicians, fuelling violent protests. He compared the "serious crisis" over the youth labour law with riots across poor suburbs in November, claiming both illustrated the "exhaustion" of the country's political system.

Mr de Villepin's popularity has plummeted during the crisis, hurting his electoral prospects. He has been exposed to ridicule from critics in the media and opposition benches after being forced to step aside while Mr Sarkozy took charge of talks on changing the prime minister's unpopular labour law.

Le Parisien newspaper yesterday ran a front page headline, saying: "What is the point of de Villepin?"

Opponents of the youth labour law on Wednesday started talks with parliamentary leaders of Mr Sarkozy's UMP party, aimed at ending a crisis that has split the government, driven millions of protesters into the streets and sparked calls for reform of France's institutions.

François Chérèque, head of the moderate CFDT union, said he was "optimistic" after talks with UMP leaders, adding: "We feel MPs are little by little starting to backtrack. Now they have a presentatation problem. We must give them time."

However, the two sides still seemed far from a deal after unions threatened more strikes if the law was not withdrawn before parliament's Easter break.

Mr Sarkozy's condemnation of the "poverty of the political debate" and the "opaque decision-making process and insufficient responsibility" of the French system, is thinly veiled criticism of Jacques Chirac, president for the past 11 years, whom he aims to replace in next year's elections.

His call for constitutional reform, including a stronger parliament and more accountable president, will also boost his image as the candidate of "rupture", or break, with a discredited political and social system despite being a top member of the government for five years.

Referring to trying to bridge the divide between voters and their politicians, he said: "More than one out of two voters today no longer relates to their elected representatives." - news.ft.com

France to replace youth job law

French President Jacques Chirac has announced that the new youth employment law that sparked weeks of sometimes violent protests will be scrapped. He said it would be replaced by other measures to tackle youth unemployment.

Millions of students and union members have taken to the streets over the last month in protest against the law, which made it easier to fire young workers. Union and student leaders said it was a "great victory" but it is not clear if protests set for Tuesday are still on. The law introduced a new work contract, known as the First Employment Contract or CPE for under-26s.

FIRST JOB CONTRACT

Contrat Premiere Embauche (CPE): A new work contract for under-26s allowing a two-year trial period In that period, employers can end a contract without explanation After two years, the CPE reverts to a standard full-time contract Became law on 2 April

It was to allow a two-year trial period, during which employers could end a contract without explanation.

The plan to replace the CPE was announced after a meeting between the president, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and other senior ministers on Monday. The new package of measures includes offering state support for employers hiring young people who face the most difficulties in gaining access to the labour market. It was being submitted to parliament on Monday and is expected to be voted on in the next few days.

'Dramatic situation'

Speaking in a live television address, Mr de Villepin said the president had accepted his proposed changes. The prime minister said he was convinced that the only way of addressing joblessness in France was a better balance between flexibility for employers and security for employees. "For some time the action of the government had been guided by one objective, to provide thousands of young people from our society with opportunities for jobs," he said. "I wanted to act very quickly because the dramatic situation and the despair of a number of young people warranted it. "This was not understood by everyone, I'm sorry to say," said Mr de Villepin, who saw his poll ratings decline during the two-month crisis.

The BBC's Alasdair Sandford in Paris says it is a significant climbdown for the French government and is particularly humiliating for Mr de Villepin who had staked much of his personal credibility on the measure.

Demands

Union leaders had given the government until Easter weekend to withdraw the law or face a repeat of the recent general strikes.

Student leader Julie Coudry called for protesters to lift blockades at dozens of universities so students could prepare for their end-of-year exams. "The CPE is dead, the CPE is well and truly finished," she said.

But some students appeared unwilling to abandon their protest. Many had wanted the entire law to be revoked, not just the article introducing the employment contract. "Our demands have not really been met," Lise Prunier, a student at the University of Paris-Jussieu told the Associated Press. BBC

Bowing to Pressure, Chirac Replaces Law

Apr 10, 2006 - By CHRISTINE OLLIVIER Associated Press Writer - PARIS (AP) --

President Jacques Chirac on Monday scrapped a controversial part of a youth labor law that triggered massive protests and strikes, bowing to intense pressure from students and unions and dealing a blow to his loyal premier in a bid to end the crisis. Unions celebrated what they called "a great victory," and also were deciding whether to keep up the protests. The top two student union UNEF and FIDL said they would press on with demonstrations Tuesday across France.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who devised the law, had faced down protesters for weeks, insisting that its most divisive provision - a so-called "first job contract" - was necessary to reduce high unemployment rates among French youths by making it easier for companies to hire and fire young workers. But acting on advice from Villepin, his longtime protege, Chirac "decided to replace" the provision with one aimed at "youths in difficulty," the president's office said.

Top lawmakers from Chirac's ruling conservative party presented a new plan to parliament Monday. The proposal emerged after legislative talks last week with unions and student groups to find ways to end the crisis.

A somber Villepin, in a TV appearance, said his original legislation was designed to curb "despair of many youths" and strike a "better balance ... between more flexibility for the employer and more security for workers." "This was not understood by everyone, I'm sorry to say," Villepin said.

The crisis has discredited Chirac and devastated Villepin and his presidential ambitions - and thrown into question the government's ability to push through painful reforms to help France compete in the global economy. The new measures increase the government's role in the workplace instead of decreasing them, as Villepin had sought.

A-P correspondent Angela Charlton reports that by announcing plans to replace the law, French President Jacques Chirac was making a break with his longtime protege.

Students and other opponents had feared the previous measure would erode coveted job security - and some unions trumpeted the retreat by Chirac and his prime minister. The labor law "is dead and buried," said Jean-Claude Mailly of the Workers Force union. "The goal has been achieved."

Alain Olive, secretary-general of the UNSA union, said, "After more than two weeks of intense mobilization, the 12 syndicated groups of workers, university and high school students have won a great victory."

UNEF leader Bruno Julliard told AP Television News that the students "want to see how we can take advantage of this power struggle that is now in our favor to garner new victories."

The new four-point plan sent to parliament would bolster existing job contracts, rather than enact new ones. The government would offer more state support for companies that hire young workers. Other provisions would increase internships in areas where jobs are relatively plentiful - such as in restaurants, hotels and nursing - or guide jobseekers in their careers. Some 160,000 youths would be affected by the new measures this year, at a cost of some $180 million to the state.

The "first job contract" would have allowed employers to fire workers aged under 26 at any time during a two-year trial period without giving a reason. Chirac enacted the law earlier this month, but immediately suspended it to give ruling conservative lawmakers a chance to meet with unions and look for a way out of the turmoil. Villepin drew up the labor legislation as part of his response to last fall's rioting in France's impoverished suburbs, where many immigrants and their French-born children live. The unemployment rate for youths under 26 is a staggering 22 percent nationwide, but soars to nearly 50 percent in some of those troubled areas. The plan sparked weeks of protests and strikes that shut down dozens of universities, prompted clashes between youths and police, and tangled road, train and air travel.

At least five demonstrations since early March drew more than 100,000 people, culminating in two that each brought at least 1 million to the streets across France in the past two weeks. Many ended in violence as youths threw stones, bottles and other projectiles at riot police, who responded by firing tear gas and swinging batons.

Unions had been threatening more demonstrations and walkouts just hours before the announcement from Chirac - and some students appeared unwilling to abandon their protest right away.

"We must go forward carefully," said Lise Prunier, an 18-year-old biology student at the University of Paris-Jussieu. "For the moment, our movement will continue."

Villepin, widely seen as a potential candidate for next year's presidential elections, has suffered heavy blows to his popularity over the crisis. A new poll showed that 85 percent of French people think the crisis has also weakened the 73-year-old Chirac, in power for 11 years. The poll was conducted by the CSA polling agency last week among 1,005 respondents and gave no margin of error. - Associated Press Writers Jean-Marie Godard and Jenny Barchfield contributed to this report.

Zero tolerance policy

Original article: ejpress.org - By Rebecca Assoun in Paris Updated: 28/Apr/2006

“I believe that in Europe, after the Shoah, it isn’t the same thing when a synagogue is burnt down or when a public building is burnt down,” said France’s Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

He was speaking Wednesday as special guest at a breakfast event organised in Paris by CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish secular organisations.

In the history of the CRIF breakfast events, no politician has ever attracted such a crowd. With 250 people attending, Sarkozy attracted almost ten times as many people as Francois Hollande, the secretary general of the Socialist Party last month.

However, press was forbidden by the minister’s cabinet, allowing him to address the Jewish community more freely without worrying that his words would be quoted by the media,” said a member of the CRIF who preferred not give his name. “It is anti-democratic.”

During his speech, the minister was lauded for his stance on Israel and his fight against anti-Semitism.

“I am determined to continue to fight against anti-Semitism,” he said.

The presidential candidate for the 2007 election has taken a hard line on anti-Semitic attacks in France. He forced police to label attacks on Jewish-owned buildings anti-Semitic, rather than simple vandalism, as was the case before he became minister.

Fighting anti-Semitism

“In 2003, I gave rise to a small polemic by indicating that anti-Semitism was seriously underestimated in France," Sarkozy pointed out. “I believe that in Europe, after the Shoah, it isn’t the same thing when a synagogue is burnt down or when a public building is burnt down.”

He recalled the number of anti-Semitic acts had dropped by 47 per cent in 2005 compared with the year before. But Nicolas Sarkozy has stigmatised the suburbs where “most of these crimes take place." He said if anti-Semitism continues, it is because it has not been repressed strongly enough: “There must be a zero tolerance policy toward the actions and words of anti-Semites.”

Regarding attacks in Israel, Sarkozy said that “these barbarian acts cannot be justified. There is no excuse for cruelty”.

For the president of the UMP governing party, there is only one solution: “to fight terrorism”.

He added: “There is no question of engaging a political dialogue with the Palestinian government of Hamas as long as it won’t satisfy three elementary conditions: renunciation of violence, recognition of the international engagements subscribed by the Palestinian Authority, recognition of the right of Israel to live in peace.” “It is normal that the European Union decided to suspend its direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority,” he said.

About the recent attacks in the touristic Dahab resort in Egypt, Nicolas Sarkozy noted Hamas had condemned them: “There would be thus legitimate attacks, those where one kills the Jews as in Tel Aviv, and the others!”.

He recalled that little time after his election as the president of the UMP, he made his first trip to Israel and met Ariel Sharon: “I think I was one of the first to have congratulated him for his peace initiatives!”

Tough politics

On the eve of the 2007 presidential election, the minister also treated the two main controversial topics of his campaign: crime prevention and positive immigration.

There must be a zero tolerance policy toward the actions and words of anti-Semites.

He took Youssef Fofana, convicted leader of a gang which kidnapped and murdered 23-year-old Ilan Halimi earlier this year, as an example to illustrate about his first project.

“He didn’t become a monster in few months. He degenerated towards the most barbarian violence since his youth. That’s why the school system of health must be completely changed. We have to intervene early in supervising behavioural problems from the age of six.”

Sarkozy was defensive towards voices from the opposition in France who accuse him of using extreme right wing rhetoric to gain votes.

“It is not because Jean-Marie Pen (leader of the extreme-right Front National party) has an idea and deals with a topic that Republicans should abstain from speaking about a subject.”

“When Le Pen says a correct thing it would be an error to abstain from saying these things."

However, about immigration Sarkozy wanted to reassure the audience by distinguishing himself from Le Pen. “My project and his are radically different. Le Pen doesn’t want any immigration. I want selected immigration”.

“But who can blames me for wanting to regain votes that were ours? Voters who were disappointed by the policies of the right went to Le Pen. Now we have to make them come back to the republican camp.”

Chirac embroiled in smear allegations

By Martin Arnold and John Thornhill in Paris Published: April 28 2006

French president Jacques Chirac on Friday categorically denied any involvement in an alleged smear campaign against Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and his potential successor, in a scandal that risks embarrassing his prime minister and undermining the government.

The Clearstream scandal, named after the Luxembourg-based financial house cited in corruption allegations at the heart of the affair, is spiralling into a damaging affaire d’état, tarnishing the final year of Mr Chirac’s rule and becoming a decisive issue in the battle to succeed him.

Dominique de Villepin is fighting to save his premiership after a retired senior intelligence officer accused him of lying about his role in a corruption inquiry into Mr Sarkozy, his main rival on the right in next year’s presidential elections.

Mr Chirac issued a statement yesterday denying claims he had told Mr de Villepin to launch a probe into Mr Sarkozy, their common rival. Mr Chirac said he “categorically denied having asked for the slightest inquiry targeting political personalities.”

Members of the ruling UMP party have called for a cabinet reshuffle, while speculation rises that Mr de Villepin’s job is on the line. Already weakened by his humiliating climbdown over a bungled labour reform earlier this month, his approval ratings have hit a record low.

The Clearstream scandal has exposed the personal animosity at the top of the government, with Mr Sarkozy accusing the prime minister of sitting on a secret service report that cleared his name. Underlining how the atmosphere has deteriorated at the top of the French government, Jean-Louis Debré, head of the National Assembly and a close Chirac ally, said: “Sarkozy has put a bullet in Villepin’s head. He wants to put a second one in straight away to make sure he is dead.”

On Friday, Mr de Villepin issued a statement admitting he had ordered a series of investigations into the Clearstream scandal as foreign minister, but denying allegations that he personally ordered a probe into Mr Sarkozy’s involvement.

This was contradicted yesterday by retired general Philippe Rondot, a former de Villepin ally and leading French intelligence expert. Mr Rondot told Le Monde that Mr Villepin, under “instructions” from Mr Chirac, personally ordered him to extend his probe to include Mr Sarkozy. - FTcom

Gergorin sacked in French scandal

By Peggy Hollinger in Paris Published: May 20 2006 - FT.com

The man at the centre of the raging French political scandal which threatens the premiership of Dominique de Villepin was last night sacked from his job at the partially state-owned group EADS.

The announcement from the Franco-German aerospace combine that it had launched proceedings to fire Jean-Louis Gergorin came as the former head of strategy at EADS, who is at the heart of the so-called Clearstream affair, accused Mr de Villepin of deliberately hiding information from his rival Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister.

Mr Gergorin, who sparked the affair with allegations of illicit financial dealings involving prominent French politicians, yesterday admitted he had sent anonymous letters listing the accusations to a senior investigating judge. Many of the transactions later proved to be false, including references to Mr Sarkozy.

In an interview in Libération newspaper, Mr Gergorin said he met his old colleague Mr de Villepin, who was then foreign minister, in January 2004 to seek support to accelerate an investigation already being carried out by the ministry of defence's intelligence services. However, Mr Gergorin says that when he suggested informing the interior ministry's secret services, Mr de Villepin replied: "Certainly not, Sarkozy will find out."

Fierce political rivalry between Mr de Villepin and Mr Sarkozy has been exposed by the scandal in which anonymous letters listed tens of thousands of allegedly illicit financial transactions involving politicians, industrialists and at least three Russian billionaires.

The prime minister and President Jacques Chirac have been accused of using the affair and the subsequent investigations for their own political ends, including tarnishing the reputations of rivals. Both have denied any involvement.

However, Mr Gergorin also cast doubt on Mr Sarkozy's claim to have been kept in the dark, saying the minister had eventually been informed of allegations against him during the investigation. Mr Gergorin argues that the political scandal roiling round his allegations has stymied any thorough investigation of his evidence.

The latest revelations in the saga prompted more sad than angry responses from some of the country's leading commentators. Robert Badinter, a socialist senator, said it demonstrated that "political responsibility has disappeared in the Republic". He criticised Mr de Villepin's involvement in an affair normally treated by the interior or defence ministries as "unusual".

Patrick Jarreau, commentator in the respected daily Le Monde, compared Clearstream to France's Dreyfus affair when information was manipulated to condemn an army officer because he was Jewish. "The management of the affair has taken over from the affair itself, in which the truth is still uncertain," he said.

The French public appear to have had enough of Clearstream. A poll by IFOP showed the scandal ranked 10th on people's list of priorities. Another from CSA showed only 17 per cent would speak of it spontaneously. Newspapers have used the daily banner headlines to boost flagging sales, with Le Monde, which has led the coverage, said to have increased its circulation by 17 per cent.

The statement announcing Mr Gergorin's sacking came from Noel Forgeard, co-head of EADS and a former industrial adviser to President Chirac.

My note: EADS is a major NATO contractor

Chaos in France gives far-right record support

By Kim Willsher LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH via wash times -- May 22, 2006

PARIS -- As the French government tears itself apart amid a trumped-up corruption scandal and the Socialist opposition fails to capitalize on the chaos, Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front (FN), has gained record levels of support -- without saying a word in public.

According to a survey in the newsmagazine Le Point last week, 22 percent of the French population has a favorable opinion of Mr. Le Pen.

The rating is far higher than the 16 percent popularity that Mr. Le Pen scored in polls four years ago, just before the presidential elections in which he shocked France by beating the socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, in the first round of voting. He lost to Jacques Chirac in the second round, and political commentators insisted that his success was a blip that would never happen again.

"His ideas have never been so popular," said his daughter and likely successor, Marine. She is "very, very optimistic" about her father's chances in next year's presidential election.

"He will be in the second round, the only question is who he will be against," Miss Le Pen said. "It's a case of people realizing that reality is reflecting what we have been saying for the past 30 years. It is also because the political system is caving in on itself."

The swing to the extreme right has been attributed to a combination of economic gloom and series of events -- the fall rioting in the suburbs, student violence over a proposed employment law and now a dirty-tricks scandal -- that have crippled the government

Polls have shown the FN relentlessly on the rise since November's violence in the immigrant ghettos on the outskirts of France's biggest cities. In October, 8 percent of French people said they would vote for Mr. Le Pen's party. By December that had risen to 11 percent, and by February, it was 12 percent. In March, at the height of the student riots, would-be FN voters had increased to 13 percent, and in April, they were 14 percent.

Before 2002, the highest point for the FN, which was created in 1972, was in the mid-1990s, when the party took over six mayoral posts, capitalizing on increasing concerns over immigration.

Supporters think Mr. Le Pen's silence over the Clearstream dirty-tricks scandal has helped to distinguish him from the tarnished crowd.

Most critics of the French government have had a field day over the scandal, which has pitted Mr. Chirac and the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, against Nicolas Sarkozy, the foreign minister -- all members of the same center-right party.

Mr. Le Pen has made a point of keeping out of the political mudslinging, telling friends that Clearstream is nothing more than a "sordid masquerade."

"There's no reason for me to attack these people with my little hammer when they're smashing each other up with a road drill," he said privately, according to Le Figaro newspaper.

French Suburbs Burn in Rage Again

By Ali Ihsan Aydin, Paris - Published: Thursday, June 01, 2006 zaman.com

Shaken by last October’s riots, certain suburbs in France have once again become the scene of violence.

Clashes broke out Tuesday between police and immigrant youths in Montfermeil and Clichy-sous-Bois in Paris, the flash point of the November riots.

In the clashes that continued through Wednesday night, six police officers were wounded and 13 youths detained.

The sole survivor of last fall’s electrocution of two teenagers that caused serious riots, Turkish origin Muhittin Altun was arrested on account of throwing stones at a patrol car.

Released yesterday, the 18-year-old Altun will face charges of “deliberately damaging a police vehicle.”

The incidents, according to police, broke out when a group of youngsters attacked a police vehicle on patrol in Clichy-sous-Bois; Altun was subsequently arrested.

Afterwards, about 30 youths attacked a police station in Montfermeil. Two police officers from the station were wounded and a police vehicle was torched.

Special police squads were deployed in the two suburbs as tension escalated. Around 15 vehicles were set ablaze during the incidents that continued throughout the night.

On Wednesday, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy paid a visit to a police station in the area in support of the forces facing “masked hooligans carrying weapons”.

The head of the opposition Socialist party, Francois Hollande, criticized Sarkozy and the government by saying nothing has been fixed since last year’s riots; adding that promises have not been fulfilled. Hollande also accused Sarkozy of provoking French youth with hostile statements.

 

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