Violence spreads to more troubled Paris suburbs
The Associated Press WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2005
PARIS French President Jacques Chirac called for calm and a firm hand Wednesday in response to six nights of rioting in Paris' troubled suburbs, warning of a ''dangerous situation.'' ''The law must be applied firmly and in a spirit of dialogue and respect,'' Chirac said at a Cabinet meeting. ''The absence of dialogue and an escalation of a lack of respect will lead to a dangerous situation.'' The violence, sparked initially by the deaths of two teenagers, has laid bare the despair, anger and deep-rooted criminality in France's poor suburbs, some of them ghettos where police hesitate to venture despite proof they are fertile terrain for Islamic extremists. The rioting, which spread Tuesday night to at least nine Paris-region towns, has also exposed rifts in Chirac's government, with Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy — a presidential hopeful for elections in 2007 — under fire for his tough talk and police tactics. It also has renewed debate about France's failure to fully intergrate its millions of immigrants, many of whom are trapped in the poverty and grinding unemployment of low-cost, sometimes decrepit, suburban housing estates where gangs dealing drugs and stolen goods, not police, are sometimes in control. Chirac's comments were seen as a measure of the crisis. He acknowledged the ''profound frustrations'' of troubled neighborhoods but said violence is not the answer and that efforts must be stepped up to combat it. ''Zones without law cannot exist in the republic,'' the French leader said. His remarks to the Cabinet were passed on to reporters by governement spokesman Jean-Francois Cope. In Tuesday night's clashes, riot police fired rubber bullets at advancing gangs of youths in Aulnay-sous-Bois — one of the worst-hit suburbs — where 15 cars were burned, officials said. Youths lobbed Molotov cocktails at an annex to the town hall and threw stones at the firehouse. It was not immediately clear whether the clashes led to any injuries. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told Europe-1 radio that police detained 34 people overnight. Sarkozy — blamed by many for fanning the violence with his ''zero-tolerance'' approach to suburban crime — defended his approach and vowed to restore calm. He has recently called rioters ''scum'' and vowed to ''clean out'' troubled suburbs. Because of the unrest, Sarkozy canceled a visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan that had been planned for Nov. 6-9, his office announced Wednesday. The rioting began last Thursday in the northeastern suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois after the accidental deaths of the two teenagers electrocuted when they hid in a power substation because they thought police were chasing them. A third was injured. Officials have said police were not pursuing the boys, aged 15 and 17. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met Tuesday with the parents of the three families, promising a full investigation of the deaths and insisting on ''the need to restore calm.'' Sarkozy also met with victims' relatives, other youths, a police representative and officials from Clichy-sous-Bois. But the unrest spread even as they met. The riots have highlighted the division between France's big cities and their poor suburbs and frustrations simmering in housing projects to the north and northeast of the capital, heavily populated by North African Muslim immigrants and marked by soaring unemployment. In the northeastern suburb of Bondy, 14 cars were burned and four people arrested for throwing stones at police, authorities said. A fire engulfed a carpet store, but it was not immediately clear whether the blaze was linked to the suburban unrest. Officials gave an initial count of 69 vehicles torched in nine suburbs across the Seine-Saint-Denis region that arcs around Paris on the north and northeast. Officials said ''small, very mobile gangs'' harassed police and set fire to garbage cans and vehicles throughout the region. France-Info radio said some 150 blazes were reported in garbage bins, cars and buildings across Seine-Saint-Denis, an area of soaring unemployment, delinquency and other urban ills. A tear gas grenade that landed in the Clichy-sous-Bois mosque Sunday night fed anger, along with arrests. It was unclear who fired the tear gas. Copyright © 2005 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com |