 The French authorities have stepped up police action against youths responsible for more than a week of urban riots as the unrest spread across the country. On Saturday Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy called a meeting of police chiefs to discuss tactics as they braced for another night of violence that has so far defied all efforts to stamp it out. In a sign of the government's resolve, police said more than 250 people were arrested on Friday night alone - doubling the number of detentions recorded since the troubles first erupted on 27 October.
| But did you conk them on the turbans when you arrested them? |
Nearly 900 vehicles were torched that same night, making it the worst in terms of the arson attacks that have come to characterise the rampages. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin held a crisis meeting with Sarkozy and other key ministers on Saturday, as the rioting dominated world headlines and prompted the United States and Russia to warn its citizens against travelling through Paris suburbs.
| Holding a meeting is the best way to solve all problems, as we all know. Much more effective than a baton charge or rounding up the ringleaders and doing terrible things to them... |
Officials were "unanimous in their firmness" in seeking an end to the violence, Sarkozy said after the meeting. "The violence is not acceptable," he told journalists.
| "Not acceptable" implies you're not going to let it continue. It's now ten days old. It shouldn't have been acceptable on day one. If it hadn't been accepted on day one, we wouldn't be on day ten. |
While the government acknowledged that the grim conditions in the suburbs - chronic high unemployment, racial discrimination, miserable housing, drugs - had much to do with the discontent, Sarkozy and other security officials also voiced suspicions that the unrest was being organised.
| No!... Reeeeeeeally? That's never happened before, has it? |
Paris prosecutor general Yves Bot told Europe 1 radio on Saturday there was "organised violence," but did not say by whom. "If I could give an exact answer, those people would already be under arrest," he said. "But we can see organised actions, a strategy."
| In that case, you should start doing terrible things to the nearest cannon fodder until he/she/it tells you who you should really be looking for. Why am I getting the impression the Frenchies have forgotten how to do this? |
Youths have been seen relaying police movements by mobile telephone, and have started internet weblogs urging other parts of France to join the unrest.
| You see, if you catch one of the yoots with the cell phones, and you pound his kneecaps into paste with a claw hammer, he'll be happy to tell you who he was talking to. Then you go catch that guy. You do terrible things to his kneecaps or elbows for an hour or two, and he'll tell you somebody else to round up. |
While deprived suburbs with large immigrant Arab and African populations on the fringes of Paris were again the scene of the worst of the riots, violence has also flared in other cities around the country - Lille, Rouen, Rennes, Toulouse, Marseille - over the past two nights. The prospect of coordinated actions is of special concern in France, given that the areas most affected by the violence are downtrodden suburbs with high concentrations of Muslims. The country is home to Europe's biggest Muslim community, estimated at more than five million, or nearly 10% of the population.
| Assuming this intifadeh ends, the Frenchies might want to give some serious thought to lowering that percentage drastically. Just think of them as Albigensians. |
So far, though, there has been no religious dimension given to the riots. Those taking part have spoken more of protesting against the misery of their lives in the fringe towns, where unemployment of more than 20% is the norm.
| I'm sure they'd all be much happier if they were sent to live in Ratholistan. Life there is so much more Islamic. |
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