After nearly two weeks of unchecked rioting by “youths” who have burned thousands of cars and buses, torched schools, warehouses and other businesses, lit people on fire, attacked reporters, shot police, and spread mayhem to 300 cities, we get this from the WSJ’s report:

French authorities now have to manage a delicate balance. If they act too passively, they could be accused of caving in to the rioters. But if they take measures deemed too harsh, they risk alienating the parents of the youths and others in the French Muslim community who might interpret them “as being animated by racist spite,” said Gino Raymond, a professor of modern French studies at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom.

That’s rich: the “youths” now know that they own the streets; that’s how “delicate” the balance has been. Former Paris mayor from 1977-1995, Jacques Chirac let these hoodlums run wild for many days — was it despite or because of his experience as the Mayor of the city? It’s interesting to speculate about: did Chirac think that periodic violence is just something these lower classes have to get out of their systems from time to time, hence best not to interfere as they run amok?

In any event, it is amusing to watch the French authorities try to spin things after the belated declaration of a state of emergency (via AP) by Chirac:

“The intensity of this violence is on the way down,” National Police Chief Michel Gaudin said, citing fewer attacks on public buildings and fewer direct clashes between youths and police. He said rioting was reported in 226 towns across France, compared to nearly 300 the night before.

The state-of-emergency decree — invoked under a 50-year-old law — allows curfews where needed and will become effective at midnight Tuesday, with an initial 12-day limit. Police — massively reinforced as the violence has fanned out from its initial flash point in the northeastern suburbs of Paris — were expected to enforce the curfews. The army has not been called in. Nationwide, vandals burned 1,173 cars, compared to 1,408 vehicles Sunday-Monday, police said. A total of 330 people were arrested, down from 395 the night before.

That’s swell. Maybe they will think they are winning the battle if the number of cars burned goes down 200 a night for the next week.

Final question: why are there no photos of the perps? Maybe we just missed them, but all we see (when there is any coverage of this important event at all) is police standing around, looking at a burning car, or some firemen dousing it. Does that not seem strange?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 8th, 2005 at 7:51 am and is filed under EU, General, Left of Left, MSM, Religion, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.