This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1254

Paris under siege : Bomb squads and police deployed - rioting feared- as Islamo facists plan protests on Armistice Day

Muslim attack French Institute in Greece to show 'solidarity' with rioters
November 11, 2005

MIM: Deja vu all over again. The sight of the Germans marching down the Champs Elysees after France surrendered to them during World War II could be reenacted if Islamo facists and their supporters stage their planned protests in central Paris aimed to coincide with the end of hostilities during World World I - known as Armistice Day.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5408551,00.html

Security Is Tightened in Central Paris


Friday November 11, 2005 2:46 PM

AP Photo TOU106

By JAMEY KEATEN

Associated Press Writer

PARIS (AP) - Forces tightened security in central Paris on Friday, stationing riot police and bomb squads along the Champs-Elysees as more than two weeks of arson and vandalism persisted near the French capital.

Frustrated residents of the impoverished, Parisian suburbs that have been the center of the unrest prepared to demonstrate near the Eiffel Tower, timing their protest to coincide with official military commemorations for Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I. 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.

The unrest has weakened in intensity across the rest of France under state-of-emergency measures enacted Wednesday and a heavy police presence. On Thursday, a 15th consecutive night of violence saw fewer skirmishes and fewer cars burned - 463, down from 482 the previous night, police said. Among the few buildings hit was a village banquet hall vandalized and burned in the southeastern Drome region, officials said.

"We have seen a continued drop beyond Paris, but persistence near the capital," national police spokesman Patrick Hamon said. "We cannot yet claim victory. The drop remains fragile."

France's foreign minister, speaking in Ukraine after meeting his counterpart, also said Friday that order had been restored in "most cities."

"The situation is being stabilized," Philippe Douste-Blazy said in Kiev.

The mayhem sweeping neglected and impoverished neighborhoods with large African and Arab communities has forced France to confront anger building for decades among residents who complain of discrimination and unemployment. Although many of the French-born children of Arab and black African immigrants are Muslim, police say the violence is not being driven by Islamic groups.

President Jacques Chirac acknowledged Thursday that France must confront the social inequalities and prejudice that has fueled the violence - France's worst since the 1968 student-worker uprising.

"There is a need to respond strongly and rapidly to the undeniable problems faced by many residents of underprivileged neighborhoods around our cities," Chirac said.

"Whatever our origins, we are all the children of the Republic, and we can all expect the same rights."

The first night of violence on Oct. 27 was touched off by youths angered by the accidental deaths of two teenagers who believed they were being chased by police. The teens hid in a power substation and were electrocuted.

Rioting swiftly spread from the northeastern suburban Paris town of Clichy-sous-Bois and grew into a nationwide wave of arson and nightly clashes between youths armed with firebombs and police retaliating with tear gas.

The Justice Ministry said Friday that 398 people have been jailed since the violence began - 272 convicted in expedited trials and the rest detained pending court appearances. Eighty-one were minors.

Bursts of similar violence have erupted in places like neighboring Germany and Belgium, in what authorities believe may be copycat attacks. In Athens, Greece, about 70 youths carrying clubs laid siege Friday to the entrance of the French Institute to express support for the youths in France. They smashed window and hurled paint at the building, though no injuries or arrests were reported.

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.

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."

Police, meanwhile, suspended eight officers, two of them suspected of beating a man detained during the riots. The victim had "superficial lesions" on the forehead and the right foot, the Interior Ministry said.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4427586.stm

France on riot alert for holiday
President Jacques Chirac shakes hands with WWII veterans at the Arc de Triomphe President Chirac paid tribute to the military at the Arc de Triomphe
France is holding ceremonies to commemorate the end of World War I amid tight security to prevent a fresh upsurge in street violence.

President Jacques Chirac reviewed troops and greeted war veterans in central Paris on the public holiday.

Police say the rioting that erupted two weeks ago is now less intense and 463 vehicles were set ablaze overnight - one-third of the peak total.

But unrest persisted in impoverished immigrant communities around Paris.

Night curfews for youths are still in force in several areas.

KEY FLASHPOINTS

Residents of suburban riot hotspots are expected to march through central Paris on Friday to call for an end to the violence.

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

"Whatever our origins we are all the children of the Republic and we can all expect the same rights," he said.

Policemen suspended

Meanwhile, eight police officers have been suspended after a young man was beaten up in a Paris suburb.

Police said two of the eight were suspected of illegally hitting the man arrested in La Courneuve, one of the riot hotspots.

The other six officers are also being investigated as suspected witnesses to the incident on 7 November.

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

CURFEW LAW Riot police in Evreux Cabinet can declare state of emergency in all or part of the country Regional leaders given exceptional powers to apply curfew Breach of curfew could mean two-month jail sentence Police can carry out raids on suspected weapons stockpiles Interior minister can issue house-arrest warrants for those deemed dangerous to public safety Public meeting places can be closed down House searches possible day or night Authorities can control media, film and theatre performances Emergency can only be extended beyond 12 days if approved by parliament

"When the time is right and order has been re-established, all the lessons will have to be drawn from this crisis, and with a lot of courage and lucidity," Mr Chirac said in Paris.

"We need to respond strongly and quickly to the undeniable problems which many inhabitants of the deprived neighbourhoods surrounding our cities are facing."

He also called on parents of youngsters joining in the riots to "fulfil their responsibilities" and take them in hand.

The government 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.


This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1254