Writs fly as Sarkozy bids to unmask poison-pen writer

In June 2004 an anonymous figure sent an unsigned letter to a judge accusing some top politicians and leading businessmen of laundering money through secret accounts at the Luxembourg bank Clearstream. On the list was the then finance minister Sarkozy, who had made no secret of his hopes of succeeding President Jacques Chirac. Paris braced itself for the scandal of the decade, but the judge quickly established the claims were false. Mr Sarkozy felt the scandal had been exploited by Mr de Villepin to damage him in the run-up to next year's presidential race. He is now intent on uncovering the mysterious writer. Mr Sarkozy has added his name to a civil suit for "slanderous denunciation" which had already been brought by leading businessmen who had been wrongly named. Several other politicians are preparing to join the suit, including the Socialist and former finance minister Dominique Strauss-Khan, who was also falsely accused. The hunt has led investigating judges to search defence ministry offices and those of several senior intelligence figures. Media reports said Mr de Villepin's offices could also be searched... The Socialist MEP Vincent Peillon said the scandal had made France "the laughing stock of Europe". He said even if the latest twists in the affair were just another round of infighting between Mr Sarkozy and Mr de Villepin, the saga was now calling into question the highest offices of the state, business and the justice system.

End of republican ideal in French high-rise hell

Posted by TheMole
On News/Activism 01/08/2003 3:03:02 AM EST · 2 replies · 122+ views

The Gurdian (UK) | Tuesday January 7, 2003 | Jon Henley
The constitution promises equality for all citizens. But immigrants in crime-ridden sink estates tell a startlingly different story Jon Henley in Val-FourrÈ Tuesday January 7, 2003 The Guardian Funnelled between grey tower blocks, a bitter wind shrieks across Val-FourrÈ's main square. The few shoppers there hug the concrete walls for shelter. Kids hang around on corners in big-logo parkas and tight woollen hats, smoking, joking, staring. Here you'll be fine, someone says. But don't go down to the end of the road, not on your own. It is claimed that Val-FourrÈ is Europe's largest council estate, housing 28,000 people (officially;...

French Threaten Expulsions After Islam Radical Victory

Posted by Destro
On News/Activism 04/16/2003 1:35:32 AM EDT · 30 replies · 101+ views

The New York Times | April 16, 2003 | ELAINE SCIOLINO
French Threaten Expulsions After Islam Radical Victory By ELAINE SCIOLINO PARIS, April 15 ó France's interior minister threatened today to expel any Muslim religious leader considered extremist after a fundamentalist Muslim organization unexpectedly won a large number of seats in an election for the country's first national council of Muslims. Nicolas Sarkozy, a law-and-order interior minister who pressed hard for the creation of the council, told Europe 1 radio that he would make sure that the council would not be used to spread views that run counter to French values, particularly the promotion of Islamic law. "It is precisely because...

Blow To Chirac As Presidential Poll Favours Sarkozy

Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/23/2003 10:08:44 PM EDT · 11 replies · 86+ views

The Guardian (UK) | 10-24-2003 | Amelia Gentleman
Blow to Chirac as presidency poll favours Sarkozy Amelia Gentleman in Paris Friday October 24, 2003 The Guardian (UK) The waning popularity of France's president and prime minister was highlighted yesterday in a damaging opinion poll which revealed that the powerful interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, was rated more highly as a potential president-in-waiting than either of his masters. Mr Sarkozy was described as an "excellent" or "good" right-wing presidential candidate by 50% of those polled for a survey published in the weekly Le Point magazine. President Jacques Chirac was seen as a positive runner by only 40% and the prime...

Chirac feels the heat as his former protege goes on the offensive

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 06/19/2004 7:42:27 PM EDT · 8 replies · 65+ views

The Sunday Telegraph | June 20, 2004 | Kim Willsher
The French president is having to rally support to thwart Nicolas Sarkozy, but some believe his finance minister is the only man who can save the Gaullists The French finance minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, threw down the political gauntlet to Jacques Chirac last week. In the race to become the country's next president he invited more than 200 MPs from Mr Chirac's Gaullist UMP to a lavish lunch. According to Mr Sarkozy, known as "Super Sarko", the MPs had been asked to discuss controversial proposals to open France's energy industry to private investment. That the lunch quickly became the hottest ticket...

Chirac rules out his party rival(CHIRAC IN TROUBLE ALERT)

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 06/28/2004 1:21:10 AM EDT · 8 replies · 71+ views

The Daily Telegraph | June 29, 2004 | Henry Samuel
France's ruling party was in crisis yesterday after a crude attempt by president Jacques Chirac to neuter his main political rival. An emergency closed-door meeting of the centre-right UMP degenerated into a slanging match between the Chirac camp, led by prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, and the numerous supporters of the ambitious finance minister, Nicolas Sarkozy. The argument erupted after an ultimatum to Mr Sarkozy either to resign as minister or abandon his UMP leadership ambitions. Mr Sarkozy wants to run for the presidency in 2007. Mr Chirac cited a convention under which "a minister cannot be at the same time...

French finance minister becoming a force (Sarkozy)

Posted by NormsRevenge
On News/Activism 07/16/2004 5:27:11 PM EDT · 19 replies · 601+ views

Bakersfield Californian | 7/16/04 | Laurence Frost - AP/Paris
PARIS (AP) - The spotlight shines more brightly each day on Nicolas Sarkozy, France's rising political star, who has picked a very public sparring match with President Jacques Chirac. The focus on Sarkozy sharpened further Friday with the resignation of the chairman of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement - a job the ambitious finance minister sees as his stepping stone to the French presidency. As finance minister since April, Sarkozy has challenged Chirac with growing frequency on issues ranging from defense spending to labor market reform - a trend that prompted Chirac to use a television interview Wednesday...

Sarkozyís Rise (Why French-American Relations may improve)

Posted by shrinkermd
On News/Activism 08/08/2004 12:56:39 PM EDT · 18 replies · 626+ views

New York Sun | 30 July 2004 | Claire Berlinski
In the coming election, an unusually talented politician is likely to unseat his rival, restore international respect for a great nation that in recent years has seen its reputation stained,and rebuild Americaís relationship with its European allies. Fortunately for us all, that election is not the American election and that politician is not Senator Kerry. The election is the November contest for the leadership of Franceís Union for a Popular Movement, or UMP, and the politician is Nicolas Sarkozy,Franceís agile,conservative finance minister. An inglorious conviction on corruption charges has forced Alain JuppÈ to resign the leadership of the UMP,opening the...

After 37 years, France's elder statesman is the laughing stock of his Cabinet

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 08/20/2004 5:38:47 PM EDT · 19 replies · 1,455+ views

The Times | August 21, 2004 | Charles Bremner
Authority seems to be slipping from Jacques Chirac as he is undone by arrogance while young pretender eyes his crownIRREVERENT ministers have taken to giggling behind Jacques Chiracís back at Cabinet meetings in the ElysÈe Palace. In Brussels, European Union leaders roll their eyes when the French President takes the floor. Aged 71 and in his 10th year in office, M Chirac may hold Europeís most powerful executive post, but he no longer commands the respect he did. M Chirac sees himself as the elder statesman of the Western world, but his hopes of securing a favourable place in history...

Sarkozy takes over Chirac party

Posted by Ginifer
On News/Activism 11/28/2004 1:59:39 PM EST · 7 replies · 342+ views

news.bbc.co.uk | Sunday, 28 November, 2004, | SA
Outgoing French Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has been confirmed as the new head of President Jacques Chirac's governing UMP party. He replaces Mr Chirac's ally, Alain Juppe, who was found guilty in a party financing scandal. Mr Sarkozy is widely expected to use the post to build up support for a presidential run in 2007 against Mr Chirac, his former mentor. He won the party leadership ballot comfortably, with 85% of the vote. The 49-year-old, seen as one of France's most popular politicians, will give up his ministerial post on Monday to take up the party chairman post. Mr Sarkozy's...

France:Chirac shoots from hip for Yes vote(resorting to Anglophobia)

Posted by TigerLikesRooster
On News/Activism 04/16/2005 12:06:39 PM EDT · 11 replies · 468+ views

Financial Times | 04/15/05 | John Thornhill
Chirac shoots from hip for Yes voteBy John Thornhill Published: April 15 2005 21:17 | Last updated: April 15 2005 21:17Jacques Chirac outgunned Clint Eastwood on Thursday night, but only just. The French president's much-hyped intervention in the European constitutional debate attracted 7.4m television viewers, while the Hollywood star drew 6.4m for his film, Pale Rider, on a rival channel.But if the two lead actors' styles varied, their promised plotlines seemed similar: ìA small town is terrorised by a gangster and salvation comes in the form of a gun-toting preacher.îSeeking to reassure his live audience of anxious young voters,...

French leaders say EU treaty vote is lost

Posted by lizol
On News/Activism 05/26/2005 5:38:29 PM EDT · 20 replies · 385+ views

Big News Network | Thursday 26th May, 2005
French leaders say EU treaty vote is lost Big News Network Thursday 26th May, 2005 (UPI) France's ruling party leader concedes the country's voters will defeat the European Union constitution in the referendum Sunday, reports the Times of London. The thing is lost, Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for a Popular Movement told French ministers during a meeting, the report said. He also reportedly accused French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin of leading a feeble campaign. The ministers privately told The Times that Britain will drop its commitment to a referendum if France or the Netherlands votes against the constitution. French...

EU politics: France says "Non"

Posted by Alex Marko
On News/Activism 05/30/2005 5:40:47 PM EDT · 2 replies · 463+ views

The Economist Intelligence Unit | May 30, 2005
French voters delivered a potentially fatal blow to the EU's hopes for a new constitution, rejecting the treaty by a wide margin in a referendum on May 29th. With the Dutch likely to reach the same verdict when the Netherlands holds its own vote on June 1st, the constitution will almost certainly have to be shelved, at least for the next couple of years. Fears of resulting institutional paralysis are wide of the mark, but Franceís ìNoî does mean that the process of EU integration driven by political elites has reached its limits. Indeed, it is difficult to see how...

WSJ: Monsieur Triple Espresso (Dominique Marie FranÁois RenÈ Galouzeau de Villepin)

Posted by OESY
On News/Activism 06/10/2005 8:47:43 AM EDT · 3 replies · 378+ views

Wall Street Journal | June 10, 2005 | PHILIP DELVES BROUGHTON
...At a time of deep national unease, his appointment is President Chirac's Hail Mary pass, a final, desperate heave to salvage a fast evaporating mandate.... At the foreign ministry, he traveled relentlessly and became notorious for his tirades against his staff, calling them "fools," "nothings" and "incompetents." European diplomats were frustrated by his indifference to Brussels and could only watch as he took on hairier problems like the disintegrating Ivory Coast, where he felt France could make a difference. While Mr. Chirac merely spoke of France being a genuine counterweight to American power, it was Mr. de Villepin who tried...

Solutions for Grandeur (A pro-American in Paris!?)

Posted by quidnunc
On News/Activism 06/28/2005 10:23:09 PM EDT · 3 replies · 345+ views

Foreign Policy | July 2005 | Marc Perelman
Nicolas Sarkozy has become the most popular French politician by diving headfirst into the countryís most explosive political issues. If he has his way, this hyperactive, pro-American, Gaullist free marketer will transform French politics for good. When Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in 2003, all French politicians sneered, except one. For Nicolas Sarkozy, the leader of a center-right Gaullist party and the son of a Hungarian refugee, the rise to power of the Austrian-born Hollywood star was a sure sign of modernity. Commenting soon after Schwarzeneggerís election victory, Sarkozy said, ì [that] someone whoís a foreigner in his...

Fifty Dead in London Attacks says France's Sarkozy

Posted by West Coast Conservative
On News/Activism 07/07/2005 3:17:44 PM EDT · 4 replies · 655+ views

Reuters | July 7, 2005
Fifty people died and 300 were wounded in Thursday's bomb attacks in London, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy quoted British Home Secretary Charles Clarke as telling him. "I've spoken to the British interior minister twice today, the last time half an hour ago. He told me that the provisional toll was 50 dead, 300 wounded, including 50 very seriously," Sarkozy said on France 2 television.

France reintroduces border controls

Posted by dervish
On News/Activism 07/13/2005 1:41:54 PM EDT · 63 replies · 1,469+ views

Forbes - AFX News Limited
France reintroduces border controls in EU - Sarkozy 07.13.2005, 12:36 PM BRUSSELS (AFX) - France has activated a clause in the Schengen open borders agreement enabling it to reintroduce border controls within the European Union, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said. 'If we don't reinforce border controls when around 50 people die in London, I don't know when I would do it,' Sarkozy said on the sidelines of a meeting of EU interior ministers. 'snip'

Sarkozy fires a Bastille Day salvo at Chirac

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 07/14/2005 1:13:46 AM EDT · 22 replies · 414+ views

The Daily Telegraph | July 14, 2005 | Henry Samuel
Nicolas Sarkozy, once a protege of President Jacques Chirac, now his bitterest rival, has snubbed his one-time mentor by suggesting he scrap his Bastille Day television appearance.Today's interview is a waste of time partly because most of France will be "at the beach", Mr Sarkozy, the interior minister and currently the favourite to succeed Mr Chirac, told the country's cabinet. During its weekly breakfast meeting Mr Sarkozy, leader of the ruling UMP party founded by the president, calmly questioned the purpose of the interview, a 25-year-old ritual and one of the calendar's political highlights. According to the LibÈration newspaper, Mr...

Chirac: "You are so lucky that you're not British"

Posted by Alex Marko
On News/Activism 07/15/2005 1:32:40 PM EDT · 49 replies · 1,395+ views

TimesOnline
PRESIDENT CHIRAC sought to regain favour with his worried nation yesterday by telling the French that they are far better off than the British and have no reason to take lessons from across the Channel. The head of stateís focus on Britain would normally have seemed out of place in his traditional Bastille Day television interview, but this year M Chirac could not avoid Franceís theme of the season as he grapples with record unpopularity. Londonís victory in the race for the 2012 Olympics was the final straw in what France sees as a period of British superiority in the...

France stands firm on deportation of cleric

Posted by Pikamax
On News/Activism 07/26/2005 9:42:19 AM EDT · 34 replies · 754+ views

IHT | 07/25/05 | IHT
PARIS Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy of France defended on Monday the deportation of an Algerian cleric as part of France's new zero-tolerance policy toward radical Muslim preachers following the London terror attacks. Abdelhamid Aissaoui, 41, who was convicted for his role in an attempted terrorist attack 10 years ago and has preached occasionally in a mosque in Lyon, in central France, was returned to his home country on a French plane on Saturday. He became the first of a dozen radical imams currently under observation by the French intelligence services to be expelled from France since Sarkozy pledged 10 days...

'Minor' stroke puts Chirac in hospital but he hangs on to reins of government

Posted by FairOpinion
On News/Activism 09/04/2005 3:45:54 AM EDT · 23 replies · 500+ views

UK Telegraph | Sept. 4, 2005 | Kim Willsher
Jacques Chirac, the president of France, is in hospital after suffering what is believed to have been a minor stroke. The president was taken to the Val de Grace military hospital in Paris on Friday night after complaining of a problem with his vision. After carrying out tests, the president's doctors said that his sight had been affected by a "vascular incident". A hospital spokesman said that Mr Chirac's condition was satisfactory and described the attack as "minor" - a point frequently repeated yesterday by officials to allay public fears about his health. The president's office said that the 72-year-old...

France expels 13,000 illegal immigrants

Posted by dennisw
On News/Activism 09/13/2005 4:46:37 PM EDT · 73 replies · 1,542+ views

Morocco TIMES | 9/13/2005
France Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, said that ì13,000 undocumented immigrants have been expelled in eight months,î and he is now committed to sending 10,000 more illegal foreigners home before the end of 2005, reported the Moroccan daily Assabah on Tuesday. He urged the police authorities to work hard to meet this goal. In a meeting with police officials, Sarkozy said that ìFrance managed to expel 12,842 by the end of August,î adding that ìso far, we have succeeded in achieving 56% of the hoped-for total of 23,000,î In 2004, France expelled 18,000 foreigners. Sarkozy has refused all the attempts made...

Braced for change, looking for a leader (France on the brink?)

Posted by TigerLikesRooster
On News/Activism 09/15/2005 9:05:49 AM EDT · 56 replies · 841+ views

The Economist | 09/08/05
Braced for change, looking for a leaderSep 8th 2005 | PARIS From The Economist print edition As fears grow over the president's health, his lieutenants compete to lead France out of its doldrums HOSPITALISED presidents make the French uneasy. Francois Mitterrand hid his cancer behind false medical reports for over a decade until his first operation, in 1992; he died four years later. Georges Pompidou's cancer became public only after his death from it while in office. So the news that President Jacques Chirac was to spend a full week in hospital, after a ìsmall vascular incidentî in the brain...

FEARS OVER MOSQUE FUNDING REVIVE FRENCH CHURCH-STATE DEBATE (How do you spell appeasement?)

Posted by Cornpone
On News/Activism 10/31/2005 6:33:28 AM EST · 15 replies · 499+ views

The Tocqueville Connection | 31 October 2005 | The Tocqueville Connection
PARIS, Oct 31 (AFP) A call for a change to a century-old French law to allow the state to fund new mosques has sent sparks flying in a society deeply attached to the separation of religion and state. Concerned that a shortage of mosques is allowing extremists to gain a foothold among Frances 5.5 million Muslims by funding places of worship, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this month named a panel to look into the prickly question. Due to report to the government in June next year, the committee is being asked, among other things, to suggest ways of reviewing...

Fourth night of riots in Paris (BOBIGNY, France)

Posted by Murtyo
On News/Activism 10/31/2005 11:04:50 AM EST · 118 replies · 2,745+ views

CNN | Monday, October 31, 2005 Posted: 1407 GMT (2207 HKT | Reuters
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday defended his tough crime policies against claims they helped increase tension after a fourth night of rioting in a Paris suburb in which tear gas was fired into a mosque. It was not clear who had fired the tear gas and Sarkozy, addressing police officers, vowed to find out what had happened. Youths hurled rocks and set fire to cars in the northeastern Clichy-sous-Bois suburb of the French capital, where many immigrants and poor families live in high-rise housing estates notorious for youth violence. French television said six police officers were hurt ---SNIP---

France defends policies after riot (Finally admitting Muslims are rioting)

Posted by adamsjas
On News/Activism 10/31/2005 4:33:39 PM EST · 247 replies · 14,242+ views

CNN.OOM International | October 31, 2005 Posted: 1942 GMT (0342 HKT) | Reuters
BOBIGNY, France (Reuters) -- French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy defended his tough crime policies on Monday after a fourth night of riots in a Paris suburb in which tear gas was fired into a mosque. Sarkozy, addressing police officers, vowed to find how tear gas had been fired into the Muslim place of worship, an incident which had helped fuel the disturbances. Youths hurled rocks and set fire to cars in the northeastern Clichy-sous-Bois suburb of the French capital, where many immigrants and poor families live in high-rise housing estates notorious for youth violence. ...snip French television said six police...

Fifth night of unrest in Paris suburb

Posted by FairOpinion
On News/Activism 11/01/2005 12:59:08 AM EST · 61 replies · 1,806+ views

Sify | Nov. 1, 2005 | AFP
Clichy-sous-Bois (France): Police fired tear gas canisters and rioters hurled Molotov cocktails as violence hit a poor Paris suburb for the fifth straight night in unrest that officials said on Tuesday had also spread to neighbouring towns. The local prefecture said that the levels of violence in the troubled suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois were lower than on previous nights. However, 12 people were arrested in the town, which has a large Muslim community, during a night in which a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a police station and 11 cars and trashcans were torched. Tensions have been running high between police...

Riots expose France's fault lines

Posted by ncountylee
On News/Activism 11/01/2005 10:30:45 PM EST · 26 replies · 2,551+ views

theaustralian | November 02, 2005 | Emma-Kate Symons
FRANCE has plunged into a bitter debate over the failure to integrate its large Muslim community after five nights of rioting in a Paris suburb populated by North African immigrants. As locals mourned the deaths of two teenage boys rumoured to have died last week while being chased by police, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy reiterated his vow of zero tolerance against urban violence. But he stood accused of playing into the hands of the extreme Right and National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen by using words such as "scum" to describe violent youths who made life "impossible" on high-rise council...

Rioting Spreads to 20 Towns Around Paris [Is France heading toward a bloody civil war?]

Posted by Wiz
On News/Activism 11/03/2005 1:15:42 PM EST · 346 replies · 9,517+ views

Associated Press via Yahoo! News | 2005 Nov 4 | Jamey Keaten
AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France - Rampaging youths shot at police and firefighters Thursday after burning car dealerships and public buses and hurling rocks at commuter trains, as eight days of riots over poor conditions in Paris-area housing projects spread to 20 towns. Youths ignored an appeal for calm from President Jacques Chirac, whose government worked feverishly to fend off a political crisis amid criticism that it has ignored problems in neighborhoods heavily populated by first- and second-generation North African and Muslim immigrants. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called a string of emergency meetings with Cabinet ministers throughout the day. He told the...

Anger grips Paris riot suburb

Posted by America's Resolve
On News/Activism 11/03/2005 1:50:46 PM EST · 61 replies · 1,964+ views

BBC News, Clichy-sous-Bois, France | 11/3/2005 | By Alasdair Sandford
The evidence of the previous night's trouble is clear to see on the Bosquets estate. A burnt-out van in Clichy-sous-Bois Burnt-out vehicles and debris remain on Clichy's streets Among the cars parked outside one block of flats are two burnt-out vehicles and small piles of debris. Rocks and stones are strewn across the street. There is no sign of any security presence and people are shopping and chatting as on any normal day. It does not take long to get a sense of the hostility some feel towards the police. A driver pulls up in front of the market, his...

Rioting In French Suburbs 'Well Organized'

Posted by areafiftyone
On News/Activism 11/03/2005 3:21:25 PM EST · 249 replies · 5,279+ views

Drudge Report | 11/3/05 | Drudge
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday that the riots in several Paris suburbs over the previous night were "not spontaneous" but rather "well organized." "What we saw in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis overnight was not spontaneous, it was perfectly organized. We are looking into by whom and how," Sarkozy told French news channel i-tele. The interior minister also said the government would not allow "troublemakers, a bunch of hoodlums, think they can do whatever they want" in the country. A force of 1,000 police were assigned late Thursday to Seine-Saint-Denis, following the previous night of violence which affected about...

French authorities vow they 'will not give in' to rioters (Sarkosi: "war without mercy")

Posted by Eurotwit
On News/Activism 11/03/2005 4:22:00 PM EST · 93 replies · 2,102+ views

AFP | 11/03/2005 | AFP
PARIS (AFP) - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin vowed his government "will not give in" to rioters, even as police braced for an eighth night of violence on the outskirts of Paris. "I will not allow organised gangs to make the law in the suburbs," he declared in parliament. More than 1,300 police were deployed to again do battle with groups of stone- and bottle-throwing youths that have torched hundreds of vehicles and vandalised buildings in rampages in low-income, high-immigrant districts since last week. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, whose hardline law-and-order policies have been blamed for fanning the acts...

Riots erupt again in Paris suburbs, 50 cars torched

Posted by workerbee
On News/Activism 11/03/2005 10:41:13 PM EST · 94 replies · 2,185+ views

Reuters | 11/3/05 | Franck Prelvel
LE BLANC-MESNIL, France, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Young rioters set fire to at least 50 vehicles in an eighth night of unrest in the impoverished suburbs of northeastern Paris as exasperated local officials criticised politicking by national leaders. Rioting erupted again late on Thursday despite hopes that festivities ending the fasting month of Ramadan would calm rioters, many of them Muslims of North African origin protesting against race bias they say keeps them in a second-class status. About 1,000 riot police patrolled poor areas but gangs of hooded youths roamed the streets threatening to strike again later in the night....

Youths give up PlayStations for guerrilla game on streets (Paris Insurrection)

Posted by USAConstitution
On News/Activism 11/04/2005 11:51:21 PM EST · 17 replies · 524+ views

London Times Online | 11/05/2005 | Charles Bremner
COMPARISONS with the Gaza Strip sprang to mind after midnight yesterday in the CitÈ des 3,000 at Aulnay-sous-Bois, a big council estate on the front line in the week-long battle of the northern Paris suburbs. A fire at a warehouse shrouded the streets with acrid smoke. Nervous riot police loitered by charred cars, on alert for the steel boules that are a favourite projectile for the young rebeux (Arabs) and blacks in the nearby tower blocks. Hooded teenagers dashed from the darkness to hurl stones, then vanished with police in pursuit. Down the street from the hulking estate a Molotov...

The Fall of France

Posted by Daralundy
On News/Activism 11/05/2005 5:54:50 PM EST · 72 replies · 2,704+ views

The Brussels Journal | November 5, 2005 | Paul Belien
If Nicolas Sarkozy had been allowed to have his way, he could have saved France. Last Summer the outspoken minister of the Interior was Franceís most popular politician with his promise to restore the law of the Republic in the various virtually self-ruling immigrant areas surrounding the major French cities. These areas, which some compare to the ìmilletî system of the former Ottoman Empire, where each religious community (millet) conducted its own social and cultural life in its own neighbourhoods, exist not only in France, but also in Muslim neighbourhoods in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and other countries. The...

France rioters: \'Each night we make this place Baghdad\'

Posted by DogBarkTree
On News/Activism 11/05/2005 7:47:47 PM EST · 144 replies · 3,499+ views

Monsters and Critics.com | Nov 5, 2005, 19:00 GMT | Hans-Hermann Nikolei
Paris - \'We burned 15 cars. How many do you have?\' A grim contest is under way in France as kids from disadvantaged suburbs vie with each other to see who can riot the hardest. On Internet websites, young arsonists brag about their successes. Rioting, it seems, has become a trend sport, as youths in immigrant areas of provincial cities begin to rally to the call from Paris. While political slogans hold no sway among these youngsters, hatred for Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is palpable. \'Now we\'re the ones chasing you with the Karcher (high-pressure hoses),\' they say, referring to...

Police Find Bomb-Making Factory in Paris

Posted by ricoshea
On News/Activism 11/06/2005 10:25:27 AM EST · 47 replies · 1,057+ views

Drudge report | 11/6/05
PARIS (AP) - Ten nights of urban unrest that brought thousands of arson attacks on cars, nursery schools and other targets from the Mediterranean to the German border reached Paris where at least 28 cars were burned overnight in the French capital, government officials said Sunday. Police found a gasoline bomb-making factory in a southern suburb of the city, with more than 100 bottles, gallons of fuel and hoods for hiding rioters' faces, a senior Justice Ministry official said Sunday.The discovery, Huet said, shows that gasoline bombs being used by rioters "are not being improvised by kids in their bathrooms....

Violences urbaines: Chirac rÈunit un conseil de sÈcuritÈ intÈrieure

Posted by cloud8
On News/Activism 11/06/2005 1:36:31 PM EST · 43 replies · 941+ views

Le Figaro | [06 novembre 2005]
Jacques Chirac convened the Interior Security Council on violence in the suburbs in the Elysee Palace late Sunday afternoon. [snip] The meeting was called yesterday when a spokesman of the Head of the State stated that Mr. Chirac would express himself on the crisis in the suburbs "at the proper time, if he considers it necessary". The Interior Security Council meets in camera, according to whether a given situation is considered to be serious or urgent. Such a meeting had been convened following the murderous terrorist attacks July 7 in London. In response to the protests of his silence, Jacques...

France vows tougher security response to worsening riots (after Chirac's security meeting)

Posted by FairOpinion
On News/Activism 11/06/2005 3:15:12 PM EST · 102 replies · 1,987+ views

Yahoo News | Nov. 6, 2005 | AFP
PARIS (AFP) - President Jacques Chirac said restoring public order was his government's "absolute priority," even as the worst rioting France has seen in decades broke out for the eleventh straight night. "Those who want to sow violence of fear, they will be arrested, judged and punished," Chirac vowed. He was speaking after chairing an emergency meeting of key ministers which, he said, "took a certain number of decisions to bolster the action of police and the courts, because today the absolute priority is restoring security and public order." But, in a sign of defiance, arsonists set fire to cars...

The man whose fate rests on a solution to the revolt (Chirac plays politics while France burns)

Posted by jb6
On News/Activism 11/06/2005 8:35:41 PM EST · 22 replies · 838+ views

Times on Line | November 07, 2005 | Charles Bremner
THE outcome of the French ethnic insurrection is likely to dictate the fate of one man: Nicolas Sarkozy, the pugnacious Interior Minister who until last summer seemed blessed by the political stars. For the young voyous (louts) and their community leaders, M Sarkozyís blunt talk about clearing the ìscumî from the estates has made him a personal enemy and symbol of hated white authority. ìWe wonít stop until Sarkozy resigns,î is the standard line when a microphone is put in front of one of the fireraising kids from la banlieue. FranÁois Hollande, leader of the Socialist Opposition, blamed M Sarkozy...

Thirty French police injured

Posted by strategofr
On News/Activism 11/06/2005 9:03:37 PM EST · 44 replies · 1,533+ views

DEBKA file | November 7, 2005, 1:25 AM (GMT+02:00)
Thirty French police injured as rioters switched for the first time from arson to gunfire on 11th night of disorders sweeping France.

Riots In France Turn Deadly (1st fatality)

Posted by NYer
On News/Activism 11/07/2005 10:28:49 AM EST · 66 replies · 1,799+ views

WCBSTV | November 7, 2005
PARIS A man who was beaten by an attacker while trying to extinguish a trash can fire during riots north of Paris has died of his injuries, becoming the first fatality since the urban unrest started 11 days ago, a police official said Monday. Youths overnight injured three dozen officers and burned more than 1,400 vehicles. Apparent copycat attacks spread to other European cities for the first time, with five cars torched outside Brussels' main train station, police in the Belgian capital said. Australia, Austria and Britain became the latest countries to advise their citizens to exercise care in France,...

Reflections On The Revolution In France (Daniel Pipes' Backhand Nod To Edmund Burke Alert)

Posted by goldstategop
On News/Activism 11/08/2005 4:06:06 AM EST · 36 replies · 1,203+ views

Frontpagemag.com | 11/08/05 | Daniel Pipes
The rioting by Muslim youth that began Oct. 27 in France to calls of ìAllahu Akbarî may be a turning point in European history. What started in Clichy-sous-Bois, on the outskirts of Paris, by its eleventh night had spread to 300 French cities and towns, as well as to Belgium and Germany. The violence, which has already been called some evocative names ñ intifada, jihad, guerilla war, insurrection, rebellion, and civil war ñ prompts several reflections: End of an era: The time of cultural innocence and political naÔvetÈ, when the French could blunder without seeing or feeling the consequences, is...

France: Sarkozy asks for expulsion of convicted foreigners

Posted by July 4th
On News/Activism 11/09/2005 10:14:42 AM EST · 23 replies · 762+ views

TF1 | 9 Nov 2005 | TF1
The Minister of Interior Department asked for Wednesday to the prefects to expel all the foreigners convicted within the framework of thirteen last nights urban violences. Holders of a residence permit including. It is what he announced Wednesday at the French National Assembly. "120 foreigners all, not in irregular situation, were condemned" to have taken part in the last nights of urban riots, indicated the Minister of Interior Department at the time of the meeting of the topical questions. "I asked to the prefects that they be expelled without delay of our own territory, including those which have a residence...

France to expel foreign rioters

Posted by 11th_VA
On News/Activism 11/09/2005 2:14:08 PM EST · 32 replies · 1,137+ views

DOSE | November 9, 2005 | Reuters
PARIS (Reuters) - French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered the expulsion of all foreigners convicted of involvement in two weeks of urban riots.Sarkozy, who has previously thrown radical Muslim preachers out of the country for breaching French laws, told the National Assembly lower house of parliament on Wednesday that 122 foreigners had been convicted of playing a role in the unrest."I have asked prefects that foreigners here legally or illegally, who have been convicted (over the unrest) be expelled without delay from our territory," he said of the top government officials who oversee France's 96 administrative districts.The order would...

France to deport foreign rioters

Posted by RWR8189
On News/Activism 11/09/2005 5:15:55 PM EST · 19 replies · 732+ views

BBC News | November 9, 2005
Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered the expulsion of all foreigners convicted of taking part in the riots that have swept France for 13 nights.He told parliament 120 foreigners had been found guilty of involvement and would be deported without delay. Police said overnight violence had fallen significantly - although trouble still flared in more than 100 towns. The government has declared a state of emergency in Paris and more than 30 other areas to help quell the unrest. The northern city of Amiens was the first to impose an overnight curfew under the new powers, which came into force...

Chiracís ComÈdie of Errors

Posted by dervish
On News/Activism 11/09/2005 9:25:35 PM EST · 4 replies · 608+ views

Frontpage | 11/11/05 | Patrick Devenny
'snip' Even as the violence worsened, Chirac failed to peek over the ramparts of the Elysee Palace, only managing to send out his quaffed errand boy, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, in order to maintain an image of national strength and executive leadership. De Villepinís earliest actions, however, indicated that Chiracís government was much more interested in political spin than taking back the streets. In a display of posturing that would warm Al Sharptonís heart, De Villepin rushed to appease the rioters by meeting with the parents of the two dead teenagers and promising a thorough investigation of the police,...

An Underclass Rebelion (France's Failure cover of The Economist)

Posted by Lorianne
On News/Activism 11/12/2005 3:31:36 PM EST · 10 replies · 646+ views

The Economist | 11 November 2005
THEY rammed a car into the local McDonaldís, set it alight, and scarpered. In the daylight, the charred skeleton of the roof now hangs precariously beside the empty childrenís slide. Across the road, riot police face a group of hooded youngsters outside the treeless estate of Les TarterÍts. Amid this destruction, a billboard on what remains of the roof carries a painfully incongruous message: ìWhat you were not expecting from McDonaldísî. For two weeks, France has been gripped by unrest that began in one suburb north-east of Paris, later spreading around the capitalís periphery and to scores of cities across...

French interior minister vows tough action over riots

Posted by Pikamax
On News/Activism 11/13/2005 12:50:30 AM EST · 25 replies · 650+ views

Reuters | 11/13/05 | Reuters
French interior minister vows tough action over riots 13 Nov 2005 03:45:14 GMT Source: Reuters (Adds details of violence and quote, paras 13 and 14) By Matthew Bigg PARIS, Nov 13 (Reuters) - France's interior minister pressed home his pledge of tough action including the expulsion of immigrants involved in 17 consecutive nights of unrest by youths protesting harsh police treatment and lack of opportunities. Youths burned around 300 vehicles and set fire to a nursery school on Saturday night and police fired tear gas to disperse those who attacked cars and stalls in France's second city Lyon earlier in...

In the Ghetto with Nicolas Sarkozy

Posted by DanielKronlid
On News/Activism 11/14/2005 8:00:07 AM EST · 6 replies · 385+ views

Spiegel Online | November 14, 2005, 12:01 PM | Ullrich Fichtner
France's Most Successful Immigrant Son For better -- though most often for worse -- he has been the face of the recent rioting in France. But love him or hate him, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is admired for his tough talk and hands-on approach. Can he solve the problems that generations of French politicians have made worse?

Sarkozy shines amid controversy

Posted by Pikamax
On News/Activism 11/15/2005 3:24:35 PM EST · 11 replies · 635+ views

BBC | 11/15/05 | Alasdair Sandford
His name appears scrawled among the graffiti on housing estate walls in untranslatable terms. Mr Sarkozy wants to replace Mr Chirac as president in 2007 Young people cite him as the cause of their troubles and demand his resignation. He was pelted with bottles and stones in one Parisian suburb. On the Champs-Elysees he was jostled, booed and insulted. Political opponents, religious leaders and newspaper columnists have accused him of aggravating the tension on the streets. A fellow minister was scathing about him. His two bosses, the most senior men in France, are political rivals seeking to block his progress....

Poll boosts France's Sarkozy as violence wanes

Posted by veronica
On News/Activism 11/16/2005 9:45:13 AM EST · 23 replies · 701+ views

Reuters | 11-16-05 | Timothy Heritage
PARIS, Nov 16 (Reuters) - French Interior Minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy received a boost on Wednesday from an opinion poll showing strong approval for his handling of almost three weeks of urban unrest, now on the wane. The survey put Sarkozy ahead of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, likely to be his main rival for the presidency in 2007, and showed both had come through France's worst civil unrest in almost 40 years much better than expected. Youngsters angered by a lack of jobs and opportunities in poor suburbs protested for the 20th successive night, but police said...

Tough stance on immigrants boosts Sarkozy

Posted by Lorianne
On News/Activism 11/17/2005 1:10:28 AM EST · 5 replies · 278+ views

Washington Times | November 17, 2005 | David R. Sands
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's strong law-and-order line on the country's urban riots is playing well with voters, while the popularity of President Jacques Chirac has plummeted, according to new public opinion polls released yesterday. Some 68 percent of French voters surveyed said they approved of Mr. Sarkozy's tough stand on the nightly riots that have plagued immigrant, mainly Muslim, suburban enclaves in Paris and other cities for three weeks, according to a survey in the French newspaper Le Point. By contrast, Mr. Chirac, who was virtually invisible in the first weeks of France's worst domestic violence in 40 years,...

Sarkozy On Terrorists (calls for "neutralization of Islamist networks and activists"

Posted by FairOpinion
On News/Activism 11/19/2005 12:26:55 AM EST · 10 replies · 481+ views

Spotlight on news | Nov. 18, 2005 | news
Sarkozy: "Our immediate operational priority remains the administrative and judicial neutralisation of Islamist networks and activists." "The threat that weighs on us comes from movements or groups based abroad ... but we must not hide from the fact that it also comes from people living here, recruited by Salafist groups, trained in schools in the Middle and Far East and who, when they return here, pose a threat." "Communities turning inwards, problems integrating into society and religious excesses must be tackled." "Our immediate operational priority remains the administrative and judicial neutralisation of Islamist networks and activists."

Chirac's Influence Sinks To New Low

Posted by blam
On News/Activism 11/27/2005 8:02:48 PM EST · 20 replies · 631+ views

The Telegraph (UK) | 11-28-2005 | Henry Samuel
Chirac's influence sinks to new low By Henry Samuel in Paris (Filed: 28/11/2005) Jacques Chirac's presidency hit a new low yesterday when a poll revealed that most voters think he now has little or no influence over events at home or abroad. Of those polled, 72 per cent regarded the influence of their president - who turns 73 tomorrow - over what happens in France as "weak". Jacques Chirac: perceived as a lame duck Two thirds said his clout on the world stage was feeble, while only 36 per cent thought he held any significant sway over European politics. Condemnation...

Study: Radical Islam Emerging In The Workplace In France

Posted by Dark Skies
On News/Activism 11/28/2005 8:52:48 AM EST · 42 replies · 1,169+ views

The Hartford-Courant | November 28 2005 | SEBASTIAN ROTELLA (LA Times)
As France grapples with the rise of Islamic extremism abroad and at home, those are snapshots of what might be an emerging trend: radical Islam in the private sector. The line between legitimate religious expression and extremist subversion can be blurry. But a recent study by a local think tank paints a picture of rising fundamentalism in the workplace, ranging from proselytizing to pressure tactics to criminal activities. In companies such as supermarket chains in immigrant-heavy areas, for instance, militant recruiters cause workplace tensions by imposing fundamentalist ideas on co-workers and pressuring managers to boycott certain products, the study says....

FRANCE: INTERIOR MINISTER AIMS FOR 25,000 EXPULSIONS IN 2006

Posted by Pikamax
On News/Activism 11/30/2005 3:46:55 PM EST · 19 replies · 575+ views

AKI | 11/30/05 | AKI
FRANCE: INTERIOR MINISTER AIMS FOR 25,000 EXPULSIONS IN 2006 Paris, 30 Nov. (AKI) - France's interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy has indicated he intends in 2006 to deport some 25,000 foreigners without proper papers, continuing a policy of increasing the number of such expulsions each year. Addressing the French Senate's commission on illegal immigration, Sarkozy also announced a tightening of rules governing asylum seekers. In 2006, temporary accommodation will no longer automatically be provided to asylum seekers if they turn down the accommodation offered them, Sarkozy announced. And if their application for asylum is rejected, the asylum-seeker will now have 15...

99 percent of French agree: "No more Chirac"

Posted by LM_Guy
On News/Activism 12/12/2005 1:25:15 PM EST · 26 replies · 882+ views

Expatica | 12/11/2005 | AFP
PARIS, Dec 11 (AFP) - Only one percent of French people want President Jacques Chirac to stand for a third term at the ElysÈe palace in elections due in May 2007, according to an opinion poll Sunday. Asked which candidate they would like to see representing Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party, 36 percent of the public chose Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and 19 percent chose Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, according to the IFOP survey for Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper. Some seven percent went to other figures, while 34 percent refused to nominate anyone from the...

France seizes military arsenal in Zarqawi-tied probe

Posted by Alouette
On News/Activism 12/15/2005 2:50:43 PM EST · 33 replies · 1,046+ views

Reuters | Dec. 15, 2005 | Thierry Leveque
PARIS (Reuters) - French police have seized large quantities of military weapons and explosives as part of a probe into an Islamic militant group said to have indirect links to al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, officials said on Thursday. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters the arsenal was discovered on Wednesday in a lock-up attached to a block of flats in the Clichy-sous-Bois suburb north of Paris. Judicial sources said the haul included assault rifles, dynamite and TNT. Police also arrested on Wednesday two new suspects in addition to the 25 rounded up in a string of dawn raids in...

Possible woman president in France.Madame Royal could be France's next president

Posted by montreal
On News/Activism 01/18/2006 7:53:09 AM EST · 21 replies · 553+ views

THE GUARDIAN | 01/18/2005
She is elegant, self-assured, strong on what interests her (families, schools, the environment), sensibly vague on the rest (foreign affairs, the economy) and, according to three polls this month, she could be France's first female president. "The china in a bull-shop", as one commentator called her this week, is Segolene Royal, a former minister who now heads the regional government of Poitou-Charentes and, in a field of ageing and depressingly familiar male faces, is suddenly looking like the obvious socialist challenger to conservative Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy in next year's presidential poll. "It's early days yet," cautioned a leading political...

France Deports First Youth Tied to Riots

Posted by prairiebreeze
On News/Activism 02/02/2006 5:52:07 PM EST · 19 replies · 777+ views

wash post | February 2, 2006 | ap
PARIS -- The French government deported a Malian involved in autumn rioting on Thursday _ the first expulsion stemming from the weeks of violence that swept across France's troubled suburbs _ and was preparing to send home another six foreigners. The deportation of the man made good on promises issued by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy during three weeks of car burnings, riots and other violence that began Oct. 27. "I was widely criticized for saying ... that I would apply the law by expelling those (foreigners) who participated in the riots," Sarkozy said on LCI television. "Well, a first one...

Sarkozy Unveils New Laws To Expel Foreign workers

Posted by blam
On News/Activism 02/06/2006 9:00:59 PM EST · 9 replies · 352+ views

The Telegraph (UK) | 2-7-2006 | Henry Samuel
Sarkozy unveils new laws to expel foreign workers By Henry Samuel in Paris (Filed: 07/02/2006) Nicolas Sarkozy, France's interior minister and presidential hopeful, has unveiled tougher rules on immigration, making it easier to expel foreign workers or those refusing to integrate. The proposals included in a draft law, which Mr Sarkozy will present to the cabinet on Thursday, aim to change the very nature of immigration into France. Mr Sarkozy: hard-line "We no longer want immigration that is inflicted [on us]," he said. "We want selected immigration. The system of integration the French way no longer works," he told Le...

The Man Who Would Be le PrÈsident (Nicholas Sarkozy alert)

Posted by Dark Skies
On News/Activism 02/18/2006 9:00:13 AM EST · 36 replies · 628+ views

The Weekly Standard | 2/27/2006 (weekly issue) | Christopher Caldwell
Paris "PLUS SIMPLE! Plus vite!" says minister of the interior Nicolas Sarkozy to the waiter bringing croissants to a receiving room outside his office at the ministry. The fellow made the mistake of heating them. That has cost time, and Sarkozy has a lot to do. Just now, he is trying to fit in both an early-morning breakfast and an interview with a foreign journalist that he hopes will take "as little time as possible." More generally, Sarkozy is running the ministry that is the nerve center of post-riot France. He is also running against prime minister Dominique de Villepin...

Jews Claim Police Hid Killers' Motive to Appease [Islamofascist] Ghetto (RoP Alert)

Posted by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
On News/Activism 02/22/2006 2:25:32 AM EST · 24 replies · 737+ views

Times Online UK | 02/22/2006 | Charles Bremner
THE torture and murder of a young Jewish man in Paris triggered outrage among Jewish leaders yesterday as the Government sought to prevent the affair from inflaming emotions in the Muslim-dominated housing estates of France. Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, and his ministers promised that justice would be done after the parents of Ilan Halimi, 23, who was held captive for three weeks on an immigrant estate, accused the police of playing down the anti-Semitic motives of his kidnappers. Voicing the anger felt among the Jewish population, Radio Shalom, a station in Paris, said that M Halimi had ìbeen...

FRENCH PROSTITUTES DECLARE 'HOOKER PRIDE' ON PARIS STREETS

Posted by Cornpone
On News/Activism 03/18/2006 10:57:06 PM EST · 53 replies · 1,708+ views

The Tocqueville Connection | 18 March 2006 | AFP via The Tocqueville Connection
PARIS, March 18, 2006 (AFP) - Dozens of prostitutes took to the streets of Paris Saturday not to ply their trade but to defend it in a demonstration of "hooker pride" and calls for recognizing their human rights. The French hookers are asking for the repeal of a 2003 law which makes soliciting subject to a fine of 3,750 euros (4,600 dollars) and two months in prison, as well as revoking the residency card of any foreigner. The prostitutes like Karima, who has sold "sexual services" for 18 years, refer to it as "Sarkozy's law" after the French Interior Minister...

Chirac May Back Down Over Job Law Backlash

Posted by blam
On News/Activism 03/19/2006 10:03:32 PM EST · 41 replies · 739+ views

The Telegraph (UK) | 3-20-2006 | Colin Randall
Chirac may back down over job law backlash By Colin Randall, in Paris (Filed: 20/03/2006) President Jacques Chirac was under pressure from the threat of a general strike over France's new employment law. Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets The unrest could force his prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, to perform a humiliating climb-down. Mr de Villepin has tried to ride out the storm whipped up by the legislation and ignore the huge demonstrations and fierce rioting it has provoked. But speculation was growing last night that the president was pushing him towards major concessions to end...

Paris's streets ablaze over workers' rights

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 03/24/2006 6:11:21 AM EST · 50 replies · 965+ views

The Daily Telegraph | March 24, 2006 | Colin Randall
Rioters set cars on fire in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower yesterday after breaking off from the latest Paris demonstration against the youth job law to attack the police.Flames spread from blazing vehicles to a shop and the windows of a car showroom were smashed as masked youths went on the rampage after a march by tens of thousands reached the Invalides Esplanade. In contrast to the overwhelmingly peaceful conduct of the marchers, who were mostly schoolchildren, a minority began throwing stones and bottles at police and breaking car windows. Following the pattern of previous skirmishes over the past...

Paddle the French Fanny: They sure need it

Posted by billorites
On News/Activism 03/25/2006 4:43:24 PM EST · 22 replies · 725+ views

National Review Online | March 25, 2006 | Larry Kudlow
Why is it that so many French people would rather riot than work? For nearly a fortnight, French students repeatedly have taken to the streets in protest of a modest labor reform proposed by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. It seems that Villepin had the audacity to suggest that companies hiring workers under the age of 26 have the ability to fire those workers in the first two years of employment. Villepinís far-from-Draconian reform is a reaction to the countryís government-planned entitlement state, overregulated labor laws, and sky-high jobless rate. But French students apparently prefer their little workerís paradise just...

France's Sarkozy calls for compromise over jobs law

Posted by SunkenCiv
On News/Activism 03/25/2006 11:55:08 PM EST · 22 replies · 423+ views

Reuters | Sat Mar 25, 2006 8:55 AM EST | Thierry Leveque
Nicolas Sarkozy, a self-declared candidate for the 2007 presidential elections, expressed understanding for the young demonstrators in a speech at a meeting of his UMP party. "Twenty years of mass unemployment, 15 years of mediocre economic growth, 10 years of sluggish purchasing power, seven political changes since 1981 -- how can we blame the young for saying out loud what their parents think?" he said. Sarkozy was clearly seeking to distance himself from Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who is also expected to run in next year's election and who held unsuccessful talks with labor union leaders on the row...

Strike sends France closer to abyss

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 03/26/2006 3:54:58 AM EST · 88 replies · 2,090+ views

Scotland on Sunday | March 26, 2006 | MURDO MACLEOD
FRANCE faces a week of chaos with a strike set to paralyse a nation already shaken by furious protests against new employment laws. And criminal gangs from Paris have begun a spate of crimes in the centre of the city while police are occupied with the protest marches. Horrified Parisians have found themselves the victims of robberies and violence even in some of the smartest areas of the city and some of the best-known tourist spots. Britons have been warned by the Foreign Office to avoid Paris because of the risk of violence. Student leaders yesterday snubbed an invitation to...

French Protesters Pour Into the Streets

Posted by libertarianPA
On News/Activism 03/28/2006 9:19:30 AM EST · 45 replies · 806+ views

Yahoo! News | 3/28/06 | JAMEY KEATEN
PARIS - Tens of thousands of protesters poured onto France's streets and striking workers hobbled transport services Tuesday, increasing pressure on embattled Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to withdraw a contested new jobs contract for youths. Cracks opened in his conservative government as public pressure mounted, with Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy suggesting that the contract be suspended to allow talks with unions, in a clear break with Villepin. Paris and other cities deployed thousands of police to prevent a possible resurgence of violence that marred previous demonstrations against the contract, which would make it easier for companies to fire young...

Live Thread: Hundreds of thousands protest in France

Posted by quantim
On News/Activism 03/28/2006 10:54:52 AM EST · 333 replies · 8,026+ views

reuters/uk | Mar 28, 2006 | Timothy Heritage
PARIS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of French transport workers, teachers and other employees staged a one-day national strike or marched through the streets on Tuesday to try to force the government to abandon a new youth job law.The Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors until the evening, commuters faced delays on trains and Paris underground rail services and airports were hit by stoppages in protest against Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's CPE First Job Contract.Villepin, 52, stood firm over the plan but the strong turnout increased pressure on him to amend or withdraw the measure and calls for his...

700 arrests in French worker protests

Posted by Aussie Dasher
On News/Activism 03/28/2006 6:59:20 PM EST · 13 replies · 360+ views

Herald Sun | 29 March 2006
POLICE arrested about 700 people during disturbances on the fringes of a huge demonstration in Paris and in other French cities against a new youth jobs law today. About 50 people were injured, including five police in the Paris violence, which continued into the evening at the Place de la Republique after the protest march ended there. One of 4000 police deployed in anticipation of the violence was taken to hospital in a serious condition after being hit in the face by a "missile", police said. As thousands of demonstrators ended their peaceful protest at the Place de la Republique,...

Students fighting the free market

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 03/29/2006 3:20:51 AM EST · 24 replies · 509+ views

The Daily Telegraph | March 29, 2006 | Colin Randall
Far from being revolutionary, the students demonstrating yesterday seem to be conservative: they want to preserve the benefits enjoyed by their parents.American research underlines just how exceptional the French are in the world today. Alone among the populations of 20 countries surveyed by a team of university researchers, they oppose the free market system. In China, top of the table compiled in the poll for Maryland University, three people in four (74 per cent) believe the market economy is the best way of securing their country's future. Americans come third after Filipinos and the British, Germans and Canadians all appear...

France: The Dark Horses Ride Forth

Posted by GOPGuide
On News/Activism 03/29/2006 4:07:52 PM EST · 12 replies · 455+ views

Stratfor | March 27, 2006 | Stratfor
Summary SNIP A new right-wing figure has come to the forefront as the popularity of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the surprise contender of the 2002 election, has begun to wane. De Villiers, leader of the Movement for France party, is the second serious contender who has emerged to challenge Sarkozy. De Villiers often uses his boisterous actions to express his disdain for the European Union and all things related, even commenting on the joy in using a national currency instead of a euro. He also is a firm advocate of the ideology that France's social misfortunes stem from lax immigration laws....

UN MOMENT DECISIF (France's youth not entitled to lifetime job security by age 26)

Posted by the anti-liberal
On News/Activism 03/31/2006 12:34:50 PM EST · 86 replies · 869+ views

michellemalkin.com | March 31, 2006 | Allahpundit
UN MOMENT DECISIF By Allahpundit †††† March 31, 2006 11:51 AM Jacques Chirac is expected to take to the airwaves at 1 p.m. EST and inform France's youth that, no, they're not entitled to lifetime job security by age 26. French auto makers are already bracing for a spike in demand. Stay tuned to this post for updates in case protesters respond with insufficient "nuance." Brussels Journal reports that the issue has made for an odd reversal of political polarity: The French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told his party, the UMP, that there is ìno question of withdrawingî the...

France: Sarkozy pushes ahead with new immigration plan.

Posted by Pikamax
On News/Activism 04/01/2006 3:31:27 PM EST · 8 replies · 338+ views

Expatica | 03/29/06 | AFP
Sarkozy pushes ahead with new immigration plan PARIS, March 29, 2006 (AFP) - French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday presented to the cabinet a new immigration law intended to encourage economic migrants and tighten rules on bringing relatives into the country. Under the law, which now makes its way though parliament, foreigners "whose personality and talent are considered assets for France's development and influence" will qualify for a three-year residence permit. "Out of every nine people who want to immigrate to France today, eight do it for family reasons and only one for economic reasons. Like in other European...

TV gamble to head off further riots blows up in Chirac's face

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 04/02/2006 8:53:24 AM EDT · 26 replies · 862+ views

Scotland on Sunday | April 2, 2006 | SUSAN BELL
FRANCE is heading for even greater unrest after furious trade union and student leaders vowed to intensify their protests yesterday, following president Jacques Chirac's refusal to withdraw his government's youth labour law. Despite Chirac's gamble in going on TV to win a compromise and end image-damaging riots in Paris, union and student leaders stayed firm in their intention to hold another mass protest on Tuesday, when more than two million demonstrators are expected to take to the streets. Last week, Chirac faced what was undoubtedly one of the most critical decisions of his long political career. After France's top constitutional...

Student strikers tilt power balance as Chirac wobbles

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 04/04/2006 1:27:16 AM EDT · 16 replies · 513+ views

The Times | April 4, 2006 | Charles Bremner
STUDENTS and public sector workers stage mass protests against French labour reform today, aiming to seize on a retreat by President Chirac who has been forced to relegate to the sidelines Dominique de Villepin, his Prime Minister. The planned marches in Paris and the provinces and the disruption of rail and air services have taken on the air of a victory lap as it has become clear that Cabinet power has shifted to Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister. He is now managing the aftermath of a bizarrely framed U-turn by M Chirac last Friday night. M Sarkozy, 51, who heads...

French March in New Attack on Youth Job Law

Posted by ex-Texan
On News/Activism 04/04/2006 3:28:39 PM EDT · 24 replies · 676+ views

Reuters.uk | 4/04/2006 | Anna Willard and Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators joined rallies across France on Tuesday in a fresh assault by students and striking public sector workers on a youth hire-and-fire contract. Two months of sometimes violent demonstrations took their toll on the popularity of the contract's main champion, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, whose ratings in a new poll slid 14 points in a month to 28 percent in March. Unions said the turnout should reach the three million figure seen in last week's protests, among the biggest in France's 48-year-old Fifth Republic. Police estimates were not immediately available but were...

De Villepin isolated with Chirac eager to end revolt

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 04/05/2006 4:17:28 AM EDT · 45 replies · 705+ views

The Daily Telegraph | April 5, 2006 | Colin Randall
The French prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, was clinging to office last night amid a series of humiliations in his battle to force new job laws on a hostile public.At least a million demonstrators took to the streets for a fifth day of protest, demanding the repeal of the law providing for contentious "first job contracts" (CPE). Marches and strikes were staged as students and trade unions rejected concessions ordered by President Jacques Chirac. Violence flared again last night in Paris, where organisers claimed 700,000 people were on the march. Police put the figure at 80,000 and official estimates of...

Support could sweep mother of four French presidency

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 04/07/2006 4:56:03 AM EDT · 33 replies · 704+ views

The Scotsman | April 7, 2006 | SUSAN BELL
AMID widespread disillusionment with the president, Jacques Chirac, and his embattled prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, over their failed attempt to impose a controversial youth employment law, the French media yesterday turned the spotlight on the politician many now consider their country's brightest hope for a better future - SÈgolËne Royal. Four out of France's five influential weekly news magazines put the photogenic Socialist MP, former minister and mother of four on their covers yesterday, as the latest opinion poll showed she is the voters' most popular choice as her party's candidate for next year's presidential elections. "SÈgo-mania", as it...

Mob rule sees off another French premier

Posted by SunkenCiv
On News/Activism 04/10/2006 11:10:49 PM EDT · 14 replies · 301+ views

Telegraph Group | April 4, 2006 | editor
Under the contrat premiËre embauche (CPE), employers would have been able to sack workers under 26 during their first two years in a job without giving a reason... Having initially backed his preferred successor, Jacques Chirac predictably havered, then ceded to pressure from the street. Yesterday, he announced that the CPE, which was rammed through parliament in March, would be abandoned in favour of less controversial measures to create jobs in a country where youth unemployment is more than 20 per cent. This surrender puts paid to any significant reform at least until after the presidential election in May next...

France Beyond Remedy: Sarkozy a Worthy Dauphin of Chirac

Posted by robowombat
On News/Activism 04/11/2006 12:27:58 PM EDT · 15 replies · 666+ views

Brussels English Journal | France Beyond Remedy: Sarkozy a Worthy Dauphin of Chirac | Paul Belien
France Beyond Remedy: Sarkozy a Worthy Dauphin of Chirac Paul Belien From the desk of Paul Belien on Tue, 2006-04-11 13:13 France is beyond remedy. The country is heading for collapse, and its fate will be well deserved. As expected the French trade unions and the rioting leftwing vandals (aka ìstudentsî) in the streets won the fight for political supremacy over parliament and the government. Yesterday the French president Jack Chirac withdrew the French youth labour bill (CPE), approved earlier by a parliamentary majority, while the man he stabbed in the back by doing so, Chiracís former dauphin and Franceís...

French Students Protest, Despite Victory

Posted by GeorgiaDawg32
On News/Activism 04/11/2006 3:51:46 PM EDT · 22 replies · 372+ views

AP via Yahoo | 4/11/06 | JENNY BARCHFIELD
PARIS - Students and unions staged new protests Tuesday across France, hoping to ride the momentum that led President Jacques Chirac to scrap a youth labor law and force the government to pull other contested reforms. Chirac's retreat and school vacations that began this week were expected to deplete turnout from massive recent protests and university sit-ins that prompted him to abandon the "youth jobs contract" on Monday. Hundreds of students marched in northeastern Paris ó far fewer than the 84,000 who turned out in the capital for protests that drew 1 million demonstrators nationwide on April 4.

Hundreds of Paris students hold victory march(Unions/students going for small businesses)

Posted by Pikamax
On News/Activism 04/11/2006 8:36:00 PM EDT · 30 replies · 483+ views

Reuters | 04/11/06 | Reuters
PARIS (Reuters) - French students staged sporadic victory marches across France on Tuesday the day after President Jacques Chirac axed a hire-and-fire youth jobs law that had drawn millions onto the streets in protest. A few thousand students marched across France, just a fraction of the estimated one million who had marched a week earlier to demand the withdrawal of the First Job Contract (CPE), which made it easier for employers to sack young workers. Parliament was due later on Tuesday to start debating measures to help disadvantaged young people find work designed by the ruling Union for a Popular...

Darling of the Left leads polls in French presidential race

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 04/13/2006 2:06:59 AM EDT · 13 replies · 463+ views

The Daily Telegraph | April 13, 2006 | Colin Randall
SÈgolËne Royal has emerged from France's job law crisis better placed than ever to become the country's first female president, polls published yesterday showed.She is not only the Left's most popular candidate but would beat Nicolas Sarkozy, the Right's strongest prospect, in the race to succeed Jacques Chirac, a survey found for the first time. Miss Royal, 52, whose early career was championed by the late FranÁois Mitterrand, would win 51 per cent of the vote compared with 49 per cent for Mr Sarkozy, the interior minister, on the basis of the poll for Paris Match. Her ascendancy was reinforced...

Dick Morris: Rousing the isolation genie

Posted by JeanS
On News/Activism 04/18/2006 10:04:54 PM EDT · 41 replies · 1,082+ views

The Hill | 4/19/06 | Dick Morris
The most recent poll by USA Today clearly marks the end of the era of international focus and energy triggered by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Now, forgetting the lessons of that day, Americans are again turning inward and rejecting involvement with the rest of the world. To most politicians, pundits and journalists inside the Beltway, American voters can move to the left or the right on foreign-policy questions. But the voters themselves perceive a third option: to step backward.Isolationism, a largely ignored theme in our politics, is growing rapidly in the wake of the sacrifices we are making...

Party on Right Gains Support After (Muslim) Rioting Upsets France

Posted by nj26
On News/Activism 04/22/2006 8:28:00 PM EDT · 14 replies · 480+ views

NY Times | April 23, 2006 | CRAIG S. SMITH
France's far-right political party, the National Front, has emerged stronger than ever from the civil unrest that has plagued the country in the past six months, a new survey shows, suggesting that the party could play a major role in the presidential election next year. The National Front's outspoken and vehemently anti-immigration leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has had occasional bursts of support before: four years ago, he made it to the runoff for president, losing to Jacques Chirac. But after riots by second-generation immigrant youth last fall, Mr. Le Pen's approval rating in polls surged five percentage points, to 21...

Sarkozy Reaches Out To Far-Right Voters (France)

Posted by blam
On News/Activism 04/23/2006 10:56:17 PM EDT · 9 replies · 282+ views

The Guardian (UK) | 4-24-2006 | Kim Willsher
Sarkozy reaches out to far-right voters If you dislike France then go, says interior minister Poll puts Le Pen in third place in presidential vote Kim Willsher in Paris Monday April 24, 2006 The Guardian (UK) France's interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has been accused of pandering to the extreme right in his campaign to become president by telling those who do not like the country that they can get out. Speaking this weekend to 2,500 members of his ruling right-of-centre UMP party, he appeared to use the language of France's anti-immigrant parties - a move that won applause. "If...

Right-winger denounces 'Islamisation of France'

Posted by rmlew
On News/Activism 04/25/2006 4:31:57 AM EDT · 41 replies · 1,072+ views

The Scotsman | April 24, 2006 | TOM HENEGHAN
IN PARIS A FAR-right French politician launched his 2007 presidential campaign yesterday by declaring Islam incompatible with France's secular values. Philippe de Villiers, head of the anti-immigrant Movement for France (MPF) party, also charged that Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport was endangered by Islamist radicals, who he claimed had infiltrated the ground staff. Mr Villiers has stirred up controversy in recent weeks with increasingly tough statements about Muslims, which critics call racist and officials describe as exaggerated. France's five million Muslims make up the largest such minority in Europe. "I am the only politician who tells the French the truth...

France's Sarkozy defends law over xenophobia charge

Posted by Pikamax
On News/Activism 04/27/2006 10:14:14 PM EDT · 8 replies · 146+ views

Reuters | 04/27/06 | Reuters
PARIS (Reuters) - French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday rejected charges his new immigration bill was a xenophobic drive for far-right votes ahead of 2007 presidential elections, saying it was a bulwark against racism. The bill aims to attract a new generation of skilled workers who would embrace French values and traditions, thus improving race relations that hit the headlines during last autumn's riots in poor French suburbs, he said. Sarkozy made his comments in an interview with Le Monde newspaper ahead of a parliamentary debate on Tuesday on his immigration bill, which has been sharply criticised by church...

Protests mount against French draft immigration bill

Posted by Pikamax
On News/Activism 04/29/2006 1:19:20 PM EDT · 14 replies · 373+ views

Reuters | 04/29/06 | Reuters
PARIS (Reuters) - More than 5,000 protesters took the streets on Saturday against a draft immigration law that imposes tougher conditions on foreigners seeking to work in France. The protests come ahead of a parliamentary debate on Tuesday on the bill by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and which church leaders, immigrant support groups and the left-wing opposition have criticised as discriminating against the poor. The law would make it harder for immigrants to bring relatives to France, force newcomers to take French and civics lessons and end their automatic right to a long-term residence permit after 10 years in...

THE TIMES: Gallic woe

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 05/01/2006 3:21:03 AM EDT · 6 replies · 57+ views

The Times | May 1, 2006 | Staff
Chirac's waning days hurt France and beyondA lame-duck prime minister whose time looks to be running out; feuding and power-hungry personalities convulsing Government; ministerial reputations tarnished; the pervading sense that a long-running regime is reaching its end: not Britain, but France. If Tony Blair had a moment of contemplation during his various ministerial crises and gazed across the Channel, he might experience a frisson of Schadenfreude at seeing an adminis-tration in worse straits than his own. The cause of its current troubles is a dirty tricks row involving Franceís three most prominent politicians. The claim that Dominique de Villepin, the...

French leaders defy the storm over their 'plot to spy on rival'

Posted by MadIvan
On News/Activism 05/01/2006 3:26:53 AM EDT · 4 replies · 34+ views

The Times | May 1, 2006 | Charles Bremner
THE French Government defiantly shrugged off yesterday the accusation that Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, used a senior intelligence officer in a campaign to smear his political rival.President Chirac resisted calls to dismiss M de Villepin over his handling of an investigation into a campaign against Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister and arch enemy of both men. M Chiracís aides made it known that there was no question of replacing M de Villepin, who has become the focus of the so-called Clearstream affair, a long-running scandal involving an investigation into a list of bogus bank accounts. The latest revelations...

Writs fly as Sarkozy bids to unmask poison-pen writer

Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 05/01/2006 2:49:22 PM EDT · 9 replies

The Guardian | Tuesday April 25, 2006 | Angelique Chrisafis
In June 2004 an anonymous figure sent an unsigned letter to a judge accusing some top politicians and leading businessmen of laundering money through secret accounts at the Luxembourg bank Clearstream. On the list was the then finance minister Sarkozy, who had made no secret of his hopes of succeeding President Jacques Chirac. Paris braced itself for the scandal of the decade, but the judge quickly established the claims were false. Mr Sarkozy felt the scandal had been exploited by Mr de Villepin to damage him in the run-up to next year's presidential race. He is now intent on uncovering...

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