[France Riots] France to Extend Curfew as Calm Returns to Cities

From Bloomberg

Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The French government approved extending the nation's state of emergency as curfews and bans on public meetings in Paris and Lyon brought calm to areas hit by more than two weeks of violence.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy presented at today's cabinet meeting a plan to extend the state of emergency for a period of three months, starting Nov. 21. The measures were put in place Nov. 8 to curb violence in towns around the nation's biggest cities.

While the number of cars torched fell to 284 last night, about 15 percent of the peak, the government said it would like to keep the ``exceptional measures'' in place. President Jacques Chirac will address the nation tonight.

``It's a measure which is strictly temporary and which would apply only where it is strictly necessary,'' Chirac told the cabinet meeting, government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said.

The center of Paris was calm late yesterday after the authorities imposed a ban on public meetings on Nov. 12. The violence that began in a Paris suburb on Oct. 27 spread to towns and cities across France in the worst public unrest in the country since a student uprising in 1968.

The wave of unrest began in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous- Bois after accidental death by electrocution of two teenagers who were fleeing a police check. The rioting in suburbs housing immigrants and their descendants prompted the government to invoke a state-of-emergency law for the first time in 50 years, allowing local authorities to impose curfews.

`Back to Normal'

``We're going back to normal in the cities,'' said National Police Chief Michel Gaudin. The number of torched cars dropped last night from 374 the previous night, he said at a press conference at the interior ministry in Paris.

The state of emergency needs parliamentary approval to be extended beyond 12 days. The government spokesman said the draft bill would allow the ending of ``these exceptional measures'' by decree before the end of the three-month period. The plan will be examined in parliament tomorrow, Agence France-Presse reported.

``We still have a lot of work to do,'' Gaudin said. ``It isn't normal that there's this number of torched cars at cruising speed. The Interior Minister has never considered that the situation in terms of urban violence was satisfactory'' even before the riots, he said.

Gaudin said the police is working with domestic intelligence to gather evidence and establish responsibilities for damages to cars and public property. He said measures will be taken to change recruitment patterns in the police and hire more people from ethnic minorities, as in countries, such as the U.K.

Mirroring Society

``Our police must mirror the French society as it is in the year 2005,'' Gaudin said. France, with a population of about 62 million, has one of the largest communities of immigrants of Arab origin in Europe, totalling about 5 million.

Gaudin said France will deport foreigners, even holders of a valid resident permits, found responsible of taking part in episodes of urban unrest, he said.

Lyon, the third-largest French city with a population of 422,000 people, was calm late yesterday, AFP reported. The city authorities banned public meetings after rioters fought with police in the city center two days ago. Overnight curfew restrictions remain in force in about 40 French municipalities.

The European Union yesterday offered France 50 million euros (58.6 million) for urban rebuilding in riot-hit areas, AFP cited European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso as saying before he met Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin yesterday.

Unemployment

The riots partly reflect tensions in neighborhoods where youth unemployment exceeds 30 percent and where sizeable Muslim communities reside in the largely Catholic country. They have left one person dead, 8,300 cars torched and 2,652 people arrested since the night of Oct. 27.

Sarkozy, after meeting with police on Paris's Champs Elysees two days ago, repeated a promise to deport immigrants found guilty of rioting, a stance that has drawn criticism from defenders of minority rights.

``Foreigners found guilty can and will be expelled,'' Sarkozy said. He said deportations could begin as early as today.