This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1240
Hospitals, schools and cars burned - UK warns citizens that 'everywhere in France can be dangerous'
November 8, 2005
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| Dominique de Villepin a également présenté des mesures économiques pour favoriser l'emploi dans les banlieues. [Keystone] |
MIM: Vichy Redux : French Prime Minister Villepin has shown the government's impotence by practically apologising for having to resort to force to stop the rioting, while at the same time assuring the rioters that there demands would be met. He assures Muslims that the French will submit saying that they 'see these events as a warning' of even worse to come and are willing to make concessions in to Islamo facist intimidation which he refers to as 'an appeal'. Villepin's statement that "France is wounded and is facing a moment of truth" is tantamount to declaring that "we surrender". One wonders what type of catastrophic event have to occur before the French will put up some form of self defense. The Muslims for their part have made their stance very clear - destruction is power, as can be seen in this quote by one of the Islamo facist rioters. By giving into rioters without demanding the rioting stop as a condition ,shows Muslims in France that they can have their 'fun' 'and cause a great city to burn" by night and benefit from French taxpayer subsidised schooling and health care by day.
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"... Mahmoud Khabou, 20, the jobless son of Algerian immigrants, knows little of the world beyond the concrete housing projects that rise in bleak rows barely an hour's subway ride from the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and other grand monuments of Paris.
But he knows who his heroes are. "Osama bin Laden and Rodney King," he said, referring to the Al Qaeda leader and the African-American whose videotaped beating by Los Angeles police in 1991 spawned massive racial riots.
"One because he gives pride back to the Muslims," the young man asserted as he and a trio of friends stood near the charred ruins of a carpet shop. "The other because he was just a poor man, a 'nobody man' of color, but he caused a great city to burn."
MIM: The French government ignores such statements and has starting waving the white flag of surrender by promising to make things better for Muslims who wont be blamed for the violence and devastation.
"...A return to order is the absolute priority. The government has shown this. It will take all the steps necessary to ensure the protection of our citizens and to restore calm ... We see these events as a warning and as an appeal."
"...A government agency for equal opportunity will be created to facilitate the integration of residents of France's suburban ghettoes, the scene of most of the recent violence, Villepin said.
In addition, 5,000 additional teachers are to be hired in 2006 for the 1,200 trade schools in the economically fragile neighbourhoods, and efforts will be made to provide employment counselling to anyone living in these areas who requests it.
Unemployment rates for those under 25 living in France's impoverished public housing estates is over 40 per cent, twice that of the same age group in other neighbourhoods.
In addition, Villepin said the government would allocate an additional 100 million euros (118 million dollars) for NGOs and local associations working to assist the underprivileged in troubled areas.
"The republic has come to an hour of truth," Villepin told deputies. "What is at stake is our model of integration."
The government's action came after rioting raged into Tuesday morning throughout France. .."
"...Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, tacitly acknowledging that France has failed to live up to its egalitarian ideals, reached out to the heavily immigrant suburbs where the rioting began. He said France must make a priority of working against the discrimination that feeds the frustration of youths made to feel that they do not belong in France..".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5401587,00.html
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MIM:Terms of 'surrender' - French government gives in to rioters demands as destruction continue
Measures announced by Dominique de Villepin, after his speech in the French national assembly:
In English:
Labourscheme
learningscheme
premium for labour
15 new urbanzones
renovation of the suburbs
education - 5000 new schoolassistants in 1200 colleges
lowering age for entering factories and trade (from 16 to 14)
agency for equal opportunities
subsidies for 14000 associations already subsidized by the state
recruitingscheme (for 2000 new police officers (immigrants) serving in the suburbs)
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EMPLOI
- Tous les jeunes de moins de 25 ans, demandeurs d'emploi ou non, habitant une des 750 zones sensibles, seront reçus dans les trois prochains mois pour un "entretien approfondi" par l'ANPE, dans les missions locales ou dans les Maisons de l'emploi. Une "solution spécifique" leur sera proposée dans les trois mois (formation, stage ou contrat).
a learningscheme
- Les bénéficiaires de minimas sociaux seront incités à retrouver un emploi par la création d'une prime de 1 000 euros et d'une prime forfaitaire mensuelle de 150 euros pendant 12 mois.
20 000 contrats d'accompagnement pour l'emploi et Contrats d'avenir réservés aux quartiers défavorisés seront créés pour développer des emplois de proximité.
- 15 nouvelles zones franches urbaines seront instaurées, en plus des 85 existantes.
- Le nombre d'"adultes-relais" assurant le lien entre les familles et les institutions publiques sera doublé.
LOGEMENT
Les moyens de l'Agence de rénovation urbaine seront augmenté de 25 % sur deux ans.
EDUCATION
- Création de 5 000 postes d'assistants pédagogiques dans les 1200 collèges des quartiers sensibles.
- Doublement du nombre d'équipes de réussite éducative prévues par le plan de cohésion sociale (1 000 fin 2007).
- Possibilité d'entrée en apprentissage dès 14 ans, au lieu de 16 actuellement.
- 100 000 bourses au mérite seront accordées à la rentrée 2006, contre 30 000 actuellement.
- Ouverture de dix internats de réussite éducative supplémentaires, "pour les élèves les plus prometteurs et les plus motivés".
SANTÉ
- Développement des ateliers santé-ville pour mettre en réseau les acteurs de santé.
- Amplification du dispositif des équipes mobiles psychosociales.
INTÉGRATION
- Création d'une agence de la cohésion sociale et de l'égalité des chances qui sera "l'interlocuteur des maires".
- Création de préfets délégués à l'égalité des chances.
ASSOCIATIONS
100 millions d'euros supplémentaires seront alloués en 2006 aux 14 000 associations subventionnées par l'Etat.
SÉCURITÉ
Le ministère de l'intérieur recrutera 2000 agents supplémentaires pour les quartiers défavorisés, dans le cadre du dispositif des contrats d'accès à l'emploi, à compter de janvier 2006.
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Leaders fiddle as France burns
By Colin Randall in Paris
(Filed: 08/11/2005)
11am update: France declares state of emergency
In pictures: Paris burns after week of rioting
France was struggling to overcome one of its gravest post-war crises last night as every major city faced the threat of fierce rioting that began 12 nights ago and now seems to have spun out of control.
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Despite an assurance from Philippe Douste Blazy, the foreign minister, that France was "not a dangerous country", the spread of violence prompted the Foreign Office in London to warn travellers that trouble could break out "almost anywhere".
Dominique de Villepin, the beleaguered prime minister, announced that officials in riot-hit areas would be authorised to impose late-night curfews "wherever it is necessary" in a bid to halt the disturbances.
He rejected calls by a police union for troops to be sent in but said that 1,500 reservists were being called up and repeated an appeal to parents to keep adolescent rioters off the streets.
Although the disorder began on the intimidating sink estates of Paris's northern suburbs, trouble had been reported yesterday in the early hours from most regions of the country. Even areas such as Brittany, the Loire and Bordeaux, favoured by British holidaymakers and second- home hunters, have now been drawn into the worst wave of unrest in France since the spring revolt of 1968 set in motion the downfall of Gen Charles de Gaulle.
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Yesterday the violence also claimed its first life. A 61-year-old man died in hospital three days after being beaten unconscious when he left his home in a northern Paris suburb intending to stop rubbish bins being set on fire.
Even before renewed disturbances broke out last night, figures showed that rioters had wrecked 4,700 vehicles, injured more than 100 police and rescue workers, and opened fire in at least six separate incidents.
Of the 1,200 people arrested, more than 30 - half of them juveniles - have already been jailed or given youth custody.
The police union Action Police CFTC called for curfews to be imposed in all riot-hit areas to combat the "civil war that spreads a little more every day". The mayor of one town, Raincy, north of Paris, announced a late-night street ban on children to "avoid a tragedy". The union also urged the government to send in troops to defeat the trouble-makers, mainly mobs of young people from poor estates dominated by Muslim families whose origins are in France's former colonies in north and sub-Saharan Africa.
 "Violence in France graphic") | |
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Twenty-four hours earlier, a belated and much-criticised intervention by President Jacques Chirac, his first since the violence began, was followed by the worst night of rioting so far.
More than 1,400 vehicles were destroyed, two policemen were injured by birdshot and petrol bomb attacks were launched on schools, churches and public buildings.
Mr Chirac, who had spoken of a French republic resolved to show itself "stronger than those who want to sow violence or fear", made more conciliatory comments in a private meeting yesterday.
President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia said the French president had admitted to him that "ghettoisation of youths of African or North African origin" was to be deplored, as was French society's "incapacity to fully accept them".
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Pascal Clement, the justice minister, announced that three boys, aged 16, had been detained in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence for allegedly using their weblogs, hosted by a pop music radio station, to urge others to riot.
Police claim that ringleaders of the disturbances, which began in the northern Paris surburb of Clichy-sous-Bois on Oct 27 after two boys were accidentally electrocuted while apparently running from police, have become increasingly organised.
The Foreign Office yesterday warned Britons already in France or considering travelling there that the unrest could now break out "almost anywhere".
The new travel advisory painted a much more alarming picture of the threat to British citizens than a similar bulletin issued on Sunday.
Britons should also "avoid any demonstrations which may be taking place in and around" areas affected by the riots, said the Foreign Office website.
 7 November 2005: Chirac vows to restore order amid fresh riots |
| 6 November 2005: A country in flames… French cities teeter on the edge of anarchy |
| 1 November 2005: Deaths spark riots in Paris suburbs |
Next story: Blair offers 'sunset clause' on terror Bill
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By Timothy Heritage
PARIS (Reuters) - France is wounded and faces a moment of truth, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said on Tuesday, after his government approved the use of curfews to quell 12 nights of rioting.
The protests, blamed on racism and unemployment in rundown suburbs, receded in the Paris region after shots were fired at police the previous night but continued unabated in other parts of France in the early hours of Tuesday, with youths torching more than 1,000 vehicles overnight.
"The Republic faces a moment of truth ... France is wounded. It cannot recognise itself in its streets and devastated areas, in these outbursts of hatred and violence which destroy and kill," Villepin told the lower house of parliament.
"A return to order is the absolute priority. The government has shown this. It will take all the steps necessary to ensure the protection of our citizens and to restore calm ... We see these events as a warning and as an appeal."
Five cars were torched in Brussels in what officials say could have been copycat attacks, but the rioting did not spread across the border. Even so, fears of riots erupting in other countries helped push down the value of the euro.
Villepin's conservative government adopted a decree at an emergency session under a 1955 law that allows regional government officials known as prefects to impose curfews if they consider it necessary.
The decree was due to take effect at 11 p.m. British time, after the Interior Ministry decides where prefects can impose curfews not widely seen here since the Algerian war of 1954-1962.
Villepin said 1,500 police would be brought in to back up the 8,000 officers already deployed in areas hit by unrest involving poor white youths as well as French-born citizens of Arab or African origin complaining of racism.
Outlining his plans to parliament, he promised to accelerate urban renewal programmes and vowed to help young people in poor suburbs by reducing unemployment and improving their education opportunities.
CHIRAC AND VILLEPIN UNDER PRESSURE
President Jacques Chirac said the measures were needed to restore order but pressure is mounting on him and Villepin over France's worst unrest in decades. The president has said little in public about the violence, in which one man has been killed.
"The absence of the president is remarkable in this period we're going through," said Francois Bayrou, head of a centrist party that is critical of the conservative government.
Responding to Villepin's speech, Socialist Party deputy Jean-Marc Ayrault prompted boos from conservative deputies by telling parliament: "Your government, Mr. Prime Minister ... bears heavy responsibility over this outburst of passions."
Mayors of riot-hit towns welcomed the government's tougher line. A town east of Paris imposed its own curfew on minors on Monday evening and another to the west of the capital organised citizens' patrols to help the police.
But some mayors asked what another measure announced by Villepin -- extended powers for them -- would mean in practice.
"Every time they announce more powers for mayors, they cut the funds," complained Jean-Christophe Lagarde, mayor of the northeastern Paris suburb of Drancy.
The opposition Socialists said Villepin had not done enough to give hope to those people in areas hit by the unrest.
CONCERN ABROAD
Although Villepin first announced his plans to end the unrest on Monday evening, new violence erupted overnight.
Some 1,173 vehicles were torched compared to 1,408 on Sunday night, the Interior Ministry said. At least four police were hurt, compared with 36 on Sunday, and 330 rioters were detained.
The unrest hit Toulouse, Lille and Strasbourg as well as some Paris suburbs, where violence began on October 27 after two youths were accidentally electrocuted trying to flee police.
The euro's fall highlighted concerns abroad, at one point falling to a two-year low against the dollar.
Officials in Belgium played down the violence there, although there were minor arson incidents in Sint Niklaas in the north and Liege in the east as well as in the capital.
But Brussels fire department spokesman Francis Boileau said: "Whoever set fire to the cars must have been influenced by the footage of what is going on in France."
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged Turkish immigrants living in Europe to avoid getting caught up in riots. Influential Muslim cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi called for calm and urged the French government to address the root causes.
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1240