Chirac pledges to punish rioters
PARIS ON FIRE: Police appear powerless in the face of mayhem 10 police officers injured in Grigny Bomb-making equipment discovered
PARIS— French President Jacques Chirac yesterday promised arrests, trials and punishment for those sowing “ violence or fear” across France — as the urban unrest that has triggered attacks on vehicles, schools and other targets showed no sign of abating. The violence has become one of the most serious challenges to government authority here in nearly 40 years and some observers worry it has entered a new and dangerous phase.
Police clashed with rioters south of the capital last night, the 11th consecutive night of unrest. About 10 police officers were injured, two seriously, in Grigny in the Essonne region, the Interior Ministry said. LCI television reported that shots from a pellet gun were fired.
Police said at least 300 cars had been set ablaze in several towns across France last night and early today and 37 people had been arrested. Youths torched businesses, schools and symbols of French authority, including post offices and provincial police stations, early yesterday.
Despite help from thousands of reinforcements, the police appeared powerless to stop the mayhem. As they apply pressure in one area, the attacks slip away to another. In central Paris, gasoline bombs damaged three cars near Place de la République. Residents reported a loud explosion and flames.
“ We were very afraid,” said Annie Partouche, 55, who watched the cars burning from her apartment window. “ We were afraid to leave the building.’’
Chirac spoke after a security meeting of his top ministers.
“ The law must have the last word,” Chirac said in his first public address on the violence.
Those sowing “ violence or fear’’ will be “ arrested, judged and punished.”
Chirac said France was determined to promote “ respect for all, justice and equal opportunities.” Violence has been concentrated in poor suburbs with large immigrant populations.
“ But there is a precondition, a priority, I repeat,” he said. “ That is the restoring of security and public order.’’ The French president had faced criticism from opposition politicians for not publicly speaking about France’s worst civil unrest in more than a decade. His only previous comments came through a spokesman. From an outburst of anger in suburban Paris housing projects, the violence has fanned out into a nationwide show of disdain for French authority from youths and minorities, most French-born children of Arab and black Africans angered by years of unequal opportunities.
Arsonists burned 1,295 vehicles nationwide overnight Saturday- Sunday — sharply up from 897 the night before, national police spokesman Patrick Hamon said, adding that police made 349 arrests nationwide.
“This is just the beginning,” said Moussa Diallo, 22, a tall, unemployed French- African man in Clichy-sousBois, the working- class Parisian suburb where the violence began.
“ It’s not going to end until there are two policeman dead.” He was referring to the two teenage boys, one FrenchAfrican and the other French-Arab, whose accidental deaths while hiding from police touched off the unrest. Diallo did not admit to taking part in the vandalism himself. A helicopter equipped with spotlights and video cameras to track bands of marauding youths combed Paris suburbs and small teams of police chased rioters speeding from attack to attack in cars and on motorbikes.
“ What we notice is that the bands of youths are, little by little, getting more organized,” arranging attacks through cell phone text messages and learning how to make gasoline bombs, a police spokesperson said.
Police also found a gasoline bombmaking factory in a derelict building in Evry south of Paris, with more than 100 bottles ready to turned into bombs, another 50 already prepared, as well as fuel stocks and hoods for hiding rioters’ faces, senior Justice Ministry official Jean- Marie Huet said. Police arrested six people, all under 18. The discovery Saturday night, he said, shows that gasoline bombs “ are not being improvised by kids in their bathrooms.’’ Police said copycat attacks are fanning the unrest. The unrest extended west to Normandy and south to Nice and Cannes on the Mediterranean coast, with attacks in or around the cities of Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Strasbourg. Government officials have held a series of meetings with Muslim religious leaders, local officials and youths from poor suburbs to try to calm the violence. In an effort to stop the attacks and distance them from Islam, the Union of French Islamic Organizations issued a religious edict, or fatwa, yesterday condemning the violence.