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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Anti-Sarkozy protests in Paris, students strike
2007-05-10
The usual suspects: Yoots, slackers, neo-Vichyites.
PARIS (Reuters) - French police arrested more than 100 demonstrators and hundreds of students went on strike at a Paris university as left-wing protests against president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy continued for a fourth night on Wednesday.

Some 300-400 demonstrators gathered on the Boulevard St Michel in the Latin Quarter of Paris, ostensibly to protest against a march by far-right supporters.
The nerve of these people, imagining that they too have the right to march in the public streets. Why, it's positively counter-revolutionary!
Shouting slogans like "Sarko fascist! The people will have your hide!" and "Police everywhere, justice nowhere!", the demonstrators were cornered by hundreds of police close to the nearby Luxembourg Gardens.
Left conformists favor majority rule only when they are the majority. "Justice nowhere" is right, but only because Chiraq and the dhimmis are still in power. Just wait.
A police officer at the scene said 118 arrests had been made by 9.30 p.m.

The protests follow three nights of violent confrontations between police and young rioters in Paris and other cities that government politicians blame on inflammatory statements from left-wing politicians during the election campaign.
Such as "my goons will riot if I lose."
Although limited so far, the protests have awakened memories of the violent protests against a proposed youth jobs contract that shook France last year, especially around the Latin Quarter where police sealed off roads late on Wednesday.

Rioters in several French cities have already been sentenced for violent acts in clashes this week.
Trivia note: the guillotine was last used in France as recently as 1977. The last to feel the kiss of steel was one Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant convicted of the torture murder of his erstwhile girlfriend.
Posted by:Atomic Conspiracy

#15  Lets cut to the chase JFM, could Sarkozy order the foreign legion into cités?
Posted by: gromgoru   2007-05-10 21:55  

#14  JFM and A5089---Thank you both for giving us some good background into the workings of the French government. Mr. Sarkozy will have his hands full come May 16. I hope that he has some real majority support for his reforms and changes to his country, because the anarchistic and muzzie minority will raise as much hell that they can get away with.

If you both can keep us Rantburgers of how Sarkozy is doing from time to time, it would be much appreciated.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2007-05-10 21:27  

#13  But I am not a jurist and anyway the little law I was teached, when I was young and beautiful, was not about constitutional matters.

;>
Heh heh, I've learned that kinda law too.
Posted by: Shipman   2007-05-10 18:01  

#12  Damn! JFM, that gives me a headache just trying to follow all those twists and turns in your government.
Posted by: DarthVader   2007-05-10 17:58  

#11  It is a bit more complex. Theorically, the president appoints the Prime Minister and this one selects the government. However even when President and PM were from opposite sides teh PM has ever negotisted with eth President but I think it is not so much a Constitutional thing as a practical matter: "Mr Prime minster skip Dupont who has a record of vicious attacks against me President or I will be very, very, very nasty to you".

For the government theorically it depnds on the Assemblée Nationale (your house of Reprsentatives) and must be approved by it. Assembly may tumble the government and Preseident cannot. However in the usual situation is tha Assembly, PM and President are friopm the same side. Since President is the real leader from the dominant party he can ask the PM to resign and this will have to comply since the represntatives will tumble his government otherwise. In case the PM and Assembly are from differnt side than the Presdent (eg Mitterrand-Balladur, Chirac-Jospin) the President has no power to force the PM to resign. The President can dissolve the Assembly at will except if it has been elected for less than a year.

About Assembly, it votes the law. However laws emanating from the assembly have a lower prioriity thahn laws emanating from the government. Also in order to be enforceable, a law has to be signed by the President (but he cannot delay this indefinitley, I think he can ask for second discussion) and more importantly, the government must publish its decrees of aplication. It is not unuusual that governemnt makes a law, pushes it through teh Parliament though the fast lane but then never takes the decrees of application...

Assembly votes the budget. However French deputies are not allowed to add measures who would increase the deficit: if a deputy tries to add a spending then he musts either propose a tax increase for at least the same amount or propose a funding cut in anothere area. Same thing for proposed tax cuts: the deputy must match it with teh increase of another tax or the cut of a spending. THis is to avoid US-like pork.

The matters where the Assembly is allowed to legiferate are limitatively enumerated. The remaing is governemnt territorry.

We also have a senate (who unlike the Assemùbly cannot be dissolved) but unlike the US Senate it has not domains who are its exclsuive competency. It can modify the law voted by the Assembly but if if Assembly does not like the result it will vote the law a second time and this will overrule Seante's text.

Also ethe executive does not need either Assembly's or Seante's approval for the nominsiation of high ranking civil servants.

Voila. But I am not a jurist and anyway the little law I was teached, when I was young and beautiful, was not about constitutional matters.
Posted by: JFM   2007-05-10 16:48  

#10  AP, I'm an ignorant schmuck, so JFM will have to bring in the necessary precisons and corrections, but sarko can appoints who he wishes, and who he chooses next will be a first major indicator of where he's going (basically, if he's taking "fresh blood", that's good, if he's recycling the olde boyz, that's bad), and his minister of interior will handle civil unrest according to sarko's guideline (big issue will be justice, with for example about 40% IIRC of the judges belonging to a bona fide *leftist* union).
Note that the 1958 constitution was taylor-made for fde gaulle who fancied himself as a providential man for France, so not only does the president have all the power, and the assembly none, in short, but there's the article 16 which allows him to become a dictator, suppress civil rights, call extraordinary powers,... in case of emergency. It never has been used I think, even during the algeria war, and I doubt it ever will, but it might come in handy some day. Of course, it could be to repress french unrest, hehe (I've always thought the Establishment would prefer to arm the 'hoods against the french people, if it decided to rise against the Holy Republic, after all, the gaullists counted on the commie militias/stay behinfd armies to defend the parliament and the centers of power should the french army rebel against the surrender of algeria).
Posted by: anonymous5089   2007-05-10 11:55  

#9  JFM or A5089---please educate us on Sarkozy's options when he takes the reins of government. How are his ministers appointed? How much latitude does he have to deal with civil unrest? In other words, what are the limitations of his powers?
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2007-05-10 11:09  

#8  Then they have to repeat the whole semester!

Better to follow The American Plan and promote them.
Posted by: Professor Dumas   2007-05-10 10:45  

#7  Just give the final exam on the day the students strike. Then flunk them all.
Posted by: DarthVader   2007-05-10 10:38  

#6  Carrying on with a time honored French tradition...
Posted by: treo   2007-05-10 10:23  

#5  sacre bleu!
Posted by: eLarson   2007-05-10 09:57  

#4  Expel them and disentitle them to any state benefits for ten years.
Posted by: Excalibur   2007-05-10 09:06  

#3  Are you kidding? They're showing their solidarity in the face of the man, and, um, well...

Nope.
Posted by: Jackal   2007-05-10 08:57  

#2  They could put the professors out of work! Those fascist bastards!
Posted by: Mitch H.   2007-05-10 08:56  

#1  What is accomplished by students striking? Do they actually DO much of anything when they are not on strike?
Posted by: Glenmore   2007-05-10 08:14  

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