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VOA News - audio activity
French
Officials Act to End Two Weeks
of Riots
Written by Jill
Moss
12 November 2005
Listen to the report
I'm Steve Ember with IN THE NEWS
in VOA Special English.
Rioters in France have been attacking
cars, businesses and public buildings
for more than two weeks. French
officials now say violence levels
have begun to decrease.
The violence is the countrys
worst since a series of student
protests in Paris in 1968. Efforts
to halt the protests led to a
nationwide strike that threatened
the French government.
The current unrest began last
month after two young people were
accidentally killed at an electric
power station. They were apparently
hiding from police. The two were
of North African ancestry. Their
deaths incited riots in communities
with large African and Arab populations.
The violence intensified and spread
from Paris to other parts of France
on the eleventh night. Riots were
reported in many areas, including
Toulouse, Cannes, Nice, and Strasbourg
-- the headquarters of the European
Parliament. More than five thousand
vehicles have been burned since
the unrest began. One man beaten
by rioters has died. Police have
arrested more than two thousand
people.
The French government has been
criticized for reacting slowly
to the violence. Ministers have
held emergency meetings to discuss
affected areas. On Sunday, President
Jacques Chirac met with top security
officials. Mister Chirac said
that those involved in the violence
must be punished. "The last
word," he said, "must
be from the law."
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
has been working with leaders
of poor communities to discuss
their concerns. He has ordered
extra police to help the officers
already deployed in the affected
areas. He also re-established
a law permitting local governments
to order curfews. The law has
not been in effect since the Algerian
war of independence more than
forty years ago.
Other European countries are nervously
watching the situation. They fear
the riots could spread throughout
the European Union. France has
about five million Muslims. They
represent about ten percent of
the French population. Belgium,
Britain, Germany, the Netherlands
and Spain also have Muslim minority
populations. These nations worry
that criminals or militants may
seek out angry young Arabs for
acts of violence.
Many of the rioters in France
are the children or grandchildren
of North Africans who settled
there in the nineteen fifties
and nineteen sixties. They are
angry about disputes with police,
their treatment in French society
and unemployment.
The national unemployment rate
in France is about ten percent.
Many of those without jobs are
young Muslims. Anger over social
and cultural policies may be fueling
the riots. The terrorist attacks
against the United States four
years ago led to new laws in European
countries. The French government
has taken steps against suspected
Islamic extremists. It also has
banned Muslim head coverings and
other religious objects from public
schools.
IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English
was written by Jill Moss. I'm
Steve Ember.
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