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New violence hits France despite emergency laws
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-09 10:55
Youths threw Molotov cocktails at police and torched cars in several French
cities and towns in a 13th night of violence, ignoring the government's
imposition of rarely used emergency laws.
Police said at least 190 cars were set ablaze on Tuesday night and that 70
people had been arrested, but an official said the incidents were sporadic and
seemed less violent than on Monday night when more than 1,000 cars went up in
flames.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin invoked a 1955 law on states of
emergency in a bid to stamp out the unrest, which has involved white youths as
well as French-born citizens of Arab or African origin protesting against racism
and unemployment.
Several towns imposed a curfew from midnight.
"France is wounded. It cannot recognize itself in its streets and devastated
areas in these outbursts of hatred and violence which destroy and kill,"
Villepin told the lower house of parliament.
The violence has put fierce pressure on Villepin and President Jacques
Chirac, and fears of riots erupting in other European countries helped push down
the value of the euro, which at one point hit a two-year low against the dollar.
French officials are concerned investment and tourism will be hit by the
violence.
"BLIND VIOLENCE"
"Of course there's poverty. Of course there's unemployment," Interior
Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said on a visit to the southwestern city of Toulouse,
where youths threw Molotov cocktails at police on Tuesday night.
"Many people living in these neighbourhoods suffer. But nothing can excuse
such useless, such blind violence like we saw," Sarkozy told police officers.
On Tuesday night, a bus was set ablaze near the southwestern city of Bordeaux
and isolated acts of violence broke out in other regions.
"There was a marked decrease (in violence) during the first half of the
night," a police spokesman said. "But we will have to see what the rest of the
night will be like."
Villepin said 1,500 police would be brought in to back up the 8,000 officers
already deployed in areas hit by violence, widely seen as the most serious
unrest since protests in 1968.
Under the 1955 law, the government gave regional government officials the
power to impose curfews and authorise day or night-time searches without a
judge's order.
In several French towns, such as Amiens in the north, youths were not allowed
to walk the streets unaccompanied until 6 a.m. They were also prohibited from
buying fuel in an effort to stop them from making Molotov cocktails, officials
said.
Villepin has promised measures to help young people in poor suburbs find jobs
and to improve education opportunities.
But opposition parties have said the government has not done enough, and some
have called for Sarkozy's resignation.
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