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PARIS - President Jacques Chirac said Monday that the unrest in France's poor, largely nonwhite suburbs revealed a "crisis of identity" that the entire nation must heal with firmness and with measures that combat what he called the poison of discrimination. Chirac — speaking to the nation for the first time since the unrest erupted Oct. 27 — said France must instill values and hope in the "sons and daughters of the Republic" growing up in the poor, largely immigrant suburbs ringing French cities. French law must be obeyed, he said, but all of France — its companies, unions and...

AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France, Nov 15 (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin made a surprise visit on Tuesday to a Paris suburb hit by an unprecedented wave of rioting and presented parliament his plan to extend emergency powers. Villepin travelled to Aulnay-sous-Bois northeast of Paris a day after President Jacques Chirac said in a national address that the worst civil unrest in almost 40 years pointed to a deep national malaise and identity crisis. The prime minister met local residents, teachers and business leaders during the previously unannounced visit, his first to an area hit by rioting by youths who...

Now that French Muslims have proposed the wholesale renewal of their infidel neighbors’ stock of cars, it would be interesting to revisit the teachings of the Koran, just to see how many spiritual points destroying a Christian or Jew’s car is worth. The left-wing intelligentsia seems to have found the root of the structural hate followers of the “religion of peace” profess for the West: exclusion, inequality, a sea of injustice; in short, evil neo-liberalism. It is even more humorous to accuse capitalism of France’s woes when it is the EU member state with more barriers to the free market...

PARIS — President Jacques Chirac said Monday that more than two weeks of violence in the poor suburbs of France is the sign of a "profound malaise" and he ordered new measures to reach out to troubled youths and fight the discrimination believed to be at the root of it. In his first address to the nation since unrest erupted Oct. 27, the president said the laws of France must be obeyed and values rekindled in youths living in the poor, mostly Arab and African immigrant suburbs ringing French cities. He spoke after the Cabinet approved a measure to extend...

, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Police banned any gathering that might provoke disorder in Paris this weekend, saying they had been warned violence was planned for Saturday after two weeks of rioting across France. The intensity of France's most serious unrest in four decades has dropped since President Jacques Chirac's government adopted emergency measures including curfews on Tuesday to curb unrest by youngsters complaining of racism and unemployment. But there was a rise in violence in suburbs of the capital overnight. Police said 463 vehicles were set on fire across France, a slight fall from the previous night, but the...

THE exchange could hardly have been worse for the French police as they strive to allay their reputation as enemy of the ethnic estates. TF1, the television channel, showed a young Arab on the outskirts of Lyons objecting politely about the insulting manner of an officer who had demanded his identity papers. "You want me to take you to a transformer?" the officer sneers back, referring to the electricity station where two teenagers were electrocuted while fleeing an identity check. The incident sparked the riots. "We don't give a shit if your estate calms down," said the officer, using the...

Paris — Authorities imposed curfews in the French Riviera cities of Nice and Cannes on Wednesday to prevent rioting, while the interior minister called for the deportation of foreigners convicted in the wave of unrest that has spread throughout France. Looters and vandals defied a state of emergency with attacks on superstores, a newspaper warehouse and a subway station. Arson attacks continued after sundown, with a nursery school going up in flames in the southern city of Toulouse, RTL radio reported. The unrest began Oct. 27 and has grown into a nationwide insurrection by disillusioned suburban youths who complain of...

PARIS, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Hundreds of cars were burnt in France overnight in riots after the government imposed emergency measures aimed at halting two weeks of unrest rooted in discontent over conditions in poor suburbs. French police said at 1 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Thursday they had arrested 143 people and 280 cars were burnt, compared to 139 people arrested and 327 cars burnt at the same time the previous night. But they said there were no reports of injuries and an official at police headquarters said the trend was "positive". More than 1,400 cars were burnt overnight on...

PARIS - The French Riviera cities of Nice and Cannes, best known for glitz and film festivals that attract Hollywood stars, were among areas that imposed curfews for minors Wednesday even as rioting abated. The government toughened its stance against those involved in France's worst civil unrest since its 1968 student riots. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said local officials have been told to deport the 120 foreigners convicted so far for their roles in the violence. Although rioting persisted in some places for a 13th night, car burnings fell by nearly half and reports of violence dropped. Nonetheless, looters and...

PARIS - President Jacques Chirac declared a 12-day state of emergency Tuesday, paving the way for curfews to be imposed on riot-hit cities and towns in an extraordinary measure to halt France's worst civil unrest in nearly four decades. Meanwhile, police said the nightly rioting that began Oct. 27 ago was showing signs of abating. "The intensity of this violence is on the way down," National Police Chief Michel Gaudin said, citing fewer attacks on public buildings and fewer direct clashes between youths and police. He said rioting was reported in 226 towns across France, compared with nearly 300 the...

The Foreign Ministry has criticised some foreign reports as excessive and at least one cabinet member, Labour Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, has hinted the critical reporting was meant to hit back at France for opposing the U.S.-led Iraq war. French media have run hard-hitting reports on the riots, just as they have been very critical of social or racial problems abroad. But seeing equally tough reporting about their own country seems to have caught the French off guard. Eric Raoult, mayor of the eastern Paris suburb of Raincy, did not like being at the receiving end of outside attention. "Last night,...

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...

Rioters in the southern city of Toulouse set fire to an empty bus Monday evening, then pelted police with firebombs and rocks, an official said. A 61-year-old man died of wounds sustained in the spreading violence, the first fatality in 12 days of civil unrest that has shocked the country. The rioters stopped the bus and ordered the driver to get out, then set the vehicle afire, said Francis Soutric, chief of staff at the regional prefecture in Toulouse. No passengers were inside. Clashes broke out when riot police arrived on the scene and officers responded with tear gas, he...

The Associated Press is reporting that rioting has spread to 300 towns in France. Note to Associated Press: 300 towns is not a riot — it's a general uprising. AP says that "Sunday night, vandals burned more than 1,400 vehicles, and clashes around the country left 36 police injured..."Ace of Spades points out the Washington Post headline:  Rage of French Youth is a Fight for Recognition. Apparently all these rioters just want attention. The poor young things feel rejected by a cold and callous society: "We feel rejected, compared to the kids who live in better neighborhoods," said Nasim, a chunky...

Paris - The mayor of a tough Paris suburb near the epicentre of the urban violence raging across France declared an "exceptional curfew" on his municipality starting on Monday night. The curfew, decided by conservative mayor Eric Raoult of the northeast suburb of Raincy, was the first to be imposed in France since rioting broke out in the neighbouring suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois on October 27.

PARIS - Rioting by French youths spread to 300 towns overnight, and a 61-year-old man hurt in the violence died of his wounds, the first fatality in 11 days of unrest that has shocked the country, police said Monday. ADVERTISEMENT As urban unrest spread to neighboring Belgium and possibly Germany, the French government faced growing criticism for its inability to stop the violence, despite massive police deployment and continued calls for calm. Meanwhile, governments worldwide urged their citizens to be careful in France. On Sunday night, vandals burned more than 1,400 vehicles, and clashes around the country left 36 police...

<p>Hurricane Katrina. 9/11. National shocks come in different forms. In France, the tremor is in the form of rioting and arson that, since Oct. 27, have spread from largely Muslim housing projects outside Paris across the country. Rampaging youths have torched schools, businesses and symbols of authority from the Mediterranean to the German border. On Saturday alone, they burned almost 1,300 cars.</p>

This isn't anywhere near as articulate or even tempered as other things I've posted here, but I've been thinking about it all week and wanted to get it off my chest. muslim led violence in france continues. 897 cars burned just Saturday morning over night, just in that one night. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051105/ap_on_re_eu/france_rioting . A nursery was torched, and at least four other french cities have been hit with torched cars, and buildings. And yet, I DO NOT CARE!!! This is a problem of the french's own making. For years they thumbed their noses at us, bringing in immigrants by the thousands...

Aubervilliers, France — Widespread riots across impoverished areas of France took a malevolent turn in a ninth night of violence, with youths torching an ambulance and stoning medical workers coming to the aid of a sick person. Authorities arrested more than 250 people, an unprecedented sweep since the beginning of the unrest. Bands of youths also burned a nursery school, warehouses and nearly 900 cars overnight as the violence spread from the restive Paris suburbs to towns around France. The U.S. warned Americans against taking trains to the airport through the affected areas. At the nursery school in Acheres, west...

AUBERVILLIERS, France — Marauding bands of Muslim youth set fire to cars and warehouses and pelted rescuers with rocks early Saturday, as the worst rioting in a decade spread from Paris to other French cities. The United States warned Americans against taking trains to the airport via strife-torn areas. A savage assault on a bus passenger highlighted the dangers of travel in Paris' Muslim-filled and impoverished outlying neighborhoods, where the violence has entered its second week. The African immigrant attackers doused the woman, in her 50s and on crutches, with an inflammable liquid and set her afire as she tried...

Organized gangs behind French riots? PARIS, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has suggested organized gangs may be behind the violence sweeping Paris suburbs. "We were struck to see in departments -- notably Seine Saint Denis -- a large organization" behind the rioting that has swept the gritty suburbs ringing the French capital, Sarkozy told reporters Friday. "And all of this doesn't appear to us to be completely spontaneous," he added. "We're trying to work in depth on all of these subjects." Sarkozy's remarks echo those of other experts and law enforcement officials who believe criminal gangs...

MS: I'm actually thinking of going to Paris. I went to one of these suburbs that's currently ablaze three years ago. And what was interesting to me is I had to bribe a taxi driver a considerable amount of money just to take me out there. They're miserable places. But what was interesting to me is that after that, I then flew on to the Middle East, and I was in Yemen, and a couple of other places. And what was interesting to me was that I found more menace in the suburbs of Paris than I did in some...

AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Rioters set fire to hundreds of vehicles in impoverished suburbs of northeastern Paris in an eighth night of unrest that spread for the first time to other parts of the capital and towns in France. Local officials said they had lost patience with the government. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and his rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, opted for low profiles after days of squabbling over how to handle the crisis. Police reported fewer clashes than previous nights and residents said the Eid al-Fitr holiday ending Ramadan may have calmed areas with many Muslims...

Groups of youths hit Paris' riot-shaken suburbs with waves of arson attacks, torching hundreds of cars, as unrest entered its second week Friday and spread to other towns in France. In the eastern city of Dijon, teens apparently angered by a police crackdown on drug trafficking in their neighborhood set fire to five cars, said Paul Ronciere, the region's top government official. Overnight in the Paris region, 420 cars were set ablaze, up from previous nights, the Interior Ministry said... The unrest was led by "very numerous small and highly mobile groups," with arson attacks that destroyed 187 vehicles and...

A WEEK of suburban violence in France showed no sign of abating today after an eighth night of clashes and car-burning which for the first time spread beyond the capital. Police reported a total of 400 vehicles set alight by rioters, mostly in the poor neighbourhoods of the Paris outskirts where night-time confrontations with police have raged since October 27, but some also in Dijon, eastern France, Marseille to the south and Normandy in the north. Arsonists set fire to five businesses in the Seine-Saint-Denis district north and east of Paris city centre, completely destroying a large warehouse containing carpets...

Rioting Spreads to 20 Towns Around Paris By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer Thu Nov 3, 2:55 PM ETAULNAY-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.

After seven nights of riots by youth in predominantly-Muslim sections of Paris, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (who is a man) announced today that police would pull out of areas where dozens of cars burn each night to “let the freedom-fighting insurgents govern themselves.” “Just like the United States should not force democracy upon Muslims in Iraq,” said Mr. de Villepin, “we should not impose our own provincial thinking about the so-called ‘rule of law’ on Muslim immigrants who have established a homeland in Paris. We’re withdrawing our occupation forces immediately.” The Prime Minister, who, when he was Foreign...

Paris-Area Riots Gain Dangerous Momentum Friday November 4, 2005 3:46 AM By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press Writer AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France (AP) - A week of riots in poor neighborhoods outside Paris gained dangerous new momentum Thursday, with youths shooting at police and firefighters and attacking trains and symbols of the French state. Facing mounting criticism, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin vowed to restore order as the violence that erupted Oct. 27 spread to at least 20 towns, highlighting the frustration simmering in housing projects that are home to many North African immigrants. Unrest flared for an eighth straight night Thursday, though...

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...