Large police presence halts violence. Contains the amazing statistic that 28,000 cars have been burned this year. No wonder Sarkozy can sell a crackdown. He sounds like the second coming of Giuliani.
The politics: Villepin vs Sarkozy. My own gut feeling is that Sarkozy is going to come out ahead on this. Even in the banlieu. Nobody appreciates a bunch of out-of-control teenagers running around burning up their cars.
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"Youths from the largely Muslim ghettos"
Roh-oh!
Seriously, I wonder why it took so long to put in a significant police presense to control the situation? In the US the National Guard would have been rolling in by day two.
Sarkozy's tough talk appeal to the right will bear fruit with the voters. Sarkozy knows there is no argument in defense of violence that can appeal to the average French voter.
De Villepin's "unFrench" comment shows a non-political appeal to the intellectuals; it demonstates his political immaturity. It matters not what Chirac says, he is hopefully past history.
Is it not possible that this alienation argument is a fiction created by the media? I heard it on the Newshour tonight, it is echoed on the networks.
I am unconvinced that the French voters cares; they want the violence to end and if Sarkozy can pull it off with a massive police presence, he will triumph in this confrontation with DeVillepin and Chirac. Remember the circumstances of Chirac holding office: he is not in office because the French
love him, they simply hated Le Pen more in the last election.
What seems very unusual, if not unique, in this case is the tenacity of the rioting.
And yet the actual number of participants seems relatively small. Or a least that is the impression I get from the reports. We all know how *that* can be manipulated. But even if there were more involved, I think the main factor in the long duration was simply the lack of adequate numbers of police and a seeming hesitance to employ them.
No Pasaran has interesting little tidbits here and there.
In an item called More media censorship on the way he mentions, "The last two days have given free reign to images of violent vulgarity spouting youths, vowing vengeance on French society, along with a new media figure -- the djellaba garbed neighborhood mediators who claim they will not deal with Sarkozy."
That seems to imply, even if the riots spontaneously started, there are community figures interested in stringing them out.
He also has an item called French Intifada: le téléphone arabe passe par les blogs about people blogging from the ghe--- er, Suburbs of Unmentionable Ethnicity, which are full of venom towards the cops and, as he puts is, "of course the usual rubbish about Allah and paradise and the like."
The French have been paying protection money to Muslims for many, many years. They have euchured the Eunuchs into paying off the Palis for as long as I can remember. Extortion works very well on the French and accommodation seems to be most French politicians method of choice for dealing with any type of confrontation.
Why wouldn't the Muslim thugs prefer to deal with the known white feather whore deVillepin than an unknown such as Sarkozy? Sarkozy might still have a remnant of a spine. A little bit more of this and the French people - who possess more spine than any of the toads they elect to office - will turn to LePen for a qualitatively difference response.
It would be healthy for all of Europe if they did. The tranzi multicultis are running out of time faster than I had ever thought they would.
And yet, it appears that no one has been killed in this rioting, which I find curious.
The last time there was a 'race' riot in the US, (I thinking back to the Rodney King riots here) several people got killed.
So, what's up with that? Are the police timid? Are the rioters timid? What is going on there?
So, what's up with that? Are the police timid? Are the rioters timid? What is going on there?
Yep, I noticed that too. I suspect that folks are just feeling each other out and not ready to get into real battle. So things could just peter out for a while, or someone could get killed, the ice would be broken, and all heck could break loose. Or maybe someone will back down -- most likely the French government -- and next time will be worse.
Heck, I don't know. I don't think anyone does. The only thing for sure is that things won't be solved anytime soon.
According to the Times Online, rather than the riots being under control, yesterday was the worst night of rioting. They also reported incidents in three other French towns, Dijon, Rouen and Marseille.
The word Moslem never appears in the article, but for some oddball reason they report, "hopes that Eid-ul-Fitr, the festivities ending the fasting month of Ramadan, would calm the unrest".
From the Times article:
According to one report, a disabled woman was doused in petrol and set on fire when she was unable to escape a bus under attack in the northern suburb of Sevran. She was rescued by the driver and is being treated for severe burns, according to state prosecutors.
True? Who knows. But such stories are bound to become urban legends. Looks like the lines of demarcation are going to be hardening.
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