Friday, Oct 27, 2006
Opinion
Heading for a repeat of the riots? http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/27/stories/2006102703521100.htm
Vaiju Naravane
There are ominous signs that Paris could witness violence similar to last year's clashes.
Tensions in the suburbs of Paris and other major towns in France are at boiling point
Sarkozy accused of taking populist measures
Question of immigrant youth could become the central issue of the presidential election
THIS PAST week, in what could become a repeat of last year's riots, the seething, angry suburbs of Paris peopled mainly by black and north African Arab immigrants have witnessed a series of extremely violent and totally gratuitous attacks against the police and public property.
On the eve of the worst suburban riots France has known, authorities in Paris are visibly nervous. Frustrated and furious youth are once again taking recourse to mindless violence to tell society at large that a year on nothing has changed, that they remain ignored, deprived, discriminated against, and largely forgotten.
The riots that flared up on October 27, 2005, and led to four weeks of mayhem and looting, resulted in over 3,000 arrests, the burning of some 10,000 cars, and the destruction of property worth millions of euros. After a period of relative calm, violence flared up this week in the Paris suburbs of Montfermeuil, Nanterre, and Grigny. Armed and hooded youth forced passengers off local buses before torching the vehicles. In one incident, a young man held a pistol to the head of the driver while his accomplices doused the bus with petrol. Several other incidents have been reported in which false SOS calls have lured policemen into well-laid traps or where policemen have battled with angry stone-throwing young men until the early hours of the morning.
An intelligence service (RG) report leaked to the press last week warned that tensions in the suburban, mainly immigrant ghettos around Paris and other major towns in France were at boiling point with youths seemingly determined to re-enact the events of a year ago.
Police targeted
"Most of the conditions that a year ago led to the unleashing of collective violence across a large part of France, are still in place," the right-wing le Figaro quoted the RG report as saying. Police say they have increasingly become the target of planned attacks by gangs of suburban, mainly immigrant youth in the past month. The RG said the situation was particularly tense in the north-eastern suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, where the accidental deaths of two youths in an electrical sub-station on October 27 last year sparked off the riots.
The whole of the Ile-de-France or greater Paris region "is the source of very deep concern ... it is to be feared that tensions get more acute as we approach October 27," the report said. In recent days, police unions have warned that youth gangs seem more intent than ever on physically attacking officers on patrol. "We get the feeling that troublesome elements in the difficult neighbourhoods want a replay of the riots ... The nearer we get to the anniversary, the more poisonous the atmosphere has become," said Frederic Lagache of the Alliance police union.
"It is untrue to say that everyone is hell bent on violence," said Mehdi Chedid, a young student who, with several thousand others from Parisian suburbs, staged a demonstration before the French Parliament. "We want our law makers to know that nothing in our lives has improved. If at all, things have grown worse. Certain violent and delinquent elements in these huge tower blocks are holding normal citizens like us hostage. They are seeking out the police, purposely attacking them in order to create anarchy. They want zones in which the writ of the state no longer runs so that they can make their own rules. That is the case in places like Grigny or Montfermeuil today. Policemen are too scared to patrol there. Shopkeepers will no longer deliver goods - try ordering a new refrigerator if you live in one of these suburbs - no one wants to step in there. The state has abdicated its responsibility," he told this correspondent.
Statistics for these suburbs speak for themselves. Unemployment levels for these immigrant ghettos are as high as 50 per cent. Their living conditions are precarious and the estates themselves have become a hotbed of crime, drug peddling, and rackets of all kinds. People live in fear.
Amina and Ayesha, two sisters living in Clichy, told this correspondent: "There is such a macho mentality out here that despite the fact that we are educated and modern we do not dare open our mouths. These gang leaders are capable of killing, torturing, and raping. We just try to keep out of trouble and out of their way."
Nicolas Sarkozy, the hard line Interior Minister who is determined to become France's next President, has been accused of taking populist measures "in order to appease public opinion." He recently announced that those attacking policemen would see their prison sentences considerably lengthened. This brought forth sharp criticism from the Left and from many of his own party members who said the measure was cosmetic and would not protect police officers from aggression. Mr. Sarkozy is also at loggerheads with magistrates dealing with juvenile cases saying they were lax with young offenders.
Claude Dilain, the socialist Mayor of Clichy-sous-bois who has recently published a book on the riots and their aftermath, told this correspondent: "The problem of delinquency has been grossly exaggerated by the Right. In my commune where I am Mayor there are some 50-odd known troublemakers out of almost 30,000 inhabitants. The other residents of the city are doubly penalised. They are discriminated against because of the address featuring on their application forms. Their names spell an outright rejection by future employers - a dead giveaway. And they are under threat from these youth gangs. We need to quadruple investment in these areas, create confidence and trust. More repression and policing are not the answer." Mr. Dilain says lack of education, infrastructure and the fact of being closed up in a ghetto for many long years have made many children indifferent and hostile towards society in general.
With Mr. Sarkozy upping the ante each time, it is likely the question of immigrant youth, immigration and crime prevention will become the central issue of the upcoming presidential elections in France scheduled for April next year. It is clear that Mr. Sarkozy in his desperation to win will attempt to woo as many extreme right wing voters as possible and, in doing so, will move the entire political debate to the right to focus on crime, security, and immigration. Already the cascade effect is visible. The Socialist frontrunner Segolene Royal, in an attempt to match Mr. Sarkozy's calls for tougher action said she was in favour of "army run camps" for delinquents.
Her declaration has brought forth a barrage of criticism from her socialist peers. As recent elections in the Czech Republic, Poland, Belgium, and other nations have shown, Europe is veering to the Right, reeling from what it sees as the double onslaught of immigration and radical Islam.
In the minds of many, the two go together hand in hand, especially when it concerns immigrants from black Africa or the Maghreb. France, which houses Europe's largest Muslim and immigrant communities, is caught in the same vice.
Copyright © 2006, The Hindu.