Chirac: French riots reveal 'identity crisis'
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-11-15 09:03

French President Jacques Chirac said the riots that have rocked the country revealed a deep identity crisis and vowed to fight the "poison" of discrimination faced by France's immigrant communities.

In his first address to the nation since the troubles began on October 27, Chirac described the unrest as "a crisis of meaning, a crisis of identity," saying it was the sign of a "deep malaise" in French society.

Speaking hours after the government moved to extend by three months a state of emergency decreed last week to subdue the urban violence, Chirac vowed to uphold law and order, but also to tackle the underlying causes of the riots.

The president, who had been accused of taking a back seat in the crisis, appealed directly to youths from the poor, high-immigration suburbs where the unrest has been concentrated, assuring them they had a full place in French society.

"I wish to tell the children from these difficult neighbourhoods, whatever their origins, that they are all sons and daughters of the republic," he said in a televised address.

French President Jacques Chirac delivers a speech, some 18 days after the beginning of urban unrest in poor suburbs of the Paris region and major provincial cities, in Paris November 14, 2005.[Reuters]

The president announced the creation of a paid training and employment scheme for 50,000 youths from such areas and a series of measures to improve access to the workplace and to combat discrimination.

"We will build nothing lasting without fighting discriminations that are a poison for society," he said.

"We will build nothing durable unless we recognise and take on board the diversity of French society."

He said he would meet political leaders, businesses, unions and the media to discuss "the essential question of diversity and youth employment in struggling neighbourhoods."

Chirac also warned there would be no impunity for those who took part in the violence, the worst rioting to hit France since the student uprising of May 1968, saying all would face justice.

He sent out a tough message to the parents of youths who joined the violence, saying that those who failed to assume their responsibilities towards their children "should be punished, according to the law."

He also vowed to crack down on illegal immigration and trafficking, and called for the rules on family reunification to be strictly upheld.

Earlier Monday, the French government decided to extend until February a state of emergency introduced last Tuesday to subdue the unrest. The cabinet has agreed on a bill to go before parliament this week.

With both chambers dominated by the centre-right, the bill is expected to pass easily. It will be presented to the national assembly on Tuesday and the upper house senate on Wednesday.

Firemen work on a burned car in the suburbs of Strasbourg, eastern France, 12 November 2005.[AFP]

The emergency, which authorises curfews, house-to-house searches and bans on public gatherings, was activated under a rarely-used 1955 law dating from the start of the Algerian war.

So far some 30 localities have been placed under nightly curfews for unaccompanied children under 16, and two temporary banning orders for public gatherings were imposed in Paris and Lyon over the weekend.

Chirac earlier told the cabinet the emergency powers were "strictly temporary and will only be applied where they are strictly necessary."

The main opposition Socialists voiced "serious reservations" about the move, with a spokesman noting that most prefects -- state-appointed local governors -- had chosen not to use curfew powers allowed under the crisis law.

National police figures showed the rioting continues to subside, with 284 cars burned overnight -- down from 374 the night before and well below the 1,400 destroyed at the peak of the trouble a week ago.

As well, 115 people were detained, bringing to more than 2,760 the number of arrests since October 27.

The violence was sparked by the accidental deaths of two teenagers in an electrical sub-station in a Paris suburb. After raging in the Paris region for several days, it spread to poor high-immigration neighbourhoods across the country.

More than 8,000 cars have been burned, scores of buildings wrecked and dozens of police hurt in attacks carried out mainly by Arab and African youths.

Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen told a rally of about 1,000 supporters of his National Front party in Paris Monday that France was now "paying the bill" for "mad and criminal immigration from the Third World."

French authorities are expected in coming days to start deporting a number of foreign nationals convicted over the violence, despite fierce protests from rights groups and the opposition.