FRANCE: Fear of fresh riots in France as demonstrators celebratre the arrival of first anniversary of riots in the suburbs of Paris

Two days before the first anniversary of the Clichy riots, some 400 demonstrators, mainly from underprivileged suburbs took to the streets of Paris on Wednesday (October 25), calling for more jobs, for a minimum wage hike and stamp out discrimination to improve life in poor riot-hit neighbourhoods. Demonstrators, all dressed in black T-shirts or coats inlaid with fluorescent letters reading "March of Grievances October 25, 2006 - For select politics and not politics inflicted on us", held banners, brandished the letters of grievances and chanted "All united". "The people need recognition, need to be heard but then our grievances are much wider and we want to be heard so that the society becomes much more fair for everyone," said Limay, a demonstrator from an association called AC Le Feu, which means 'stop the stop the burning> They marched from Place Denfert-Rochereau to the Senate where they delivered their book of grievances ranging from housing problems, to town planning and unemployment. For nearly a year, the youngsters toured France's ethnically-diverse neighbourhoods, interviewing some 20,000 people and compiling their concerns in a book. Demonstrators were received by various members of the Senate and handed over their list of proposals, including calls to put more money into job search help, introduce quota forcing firms to employ more young people, hike the minimum wage and step up sanctions for discriminating firms. Samir Mihi founder of the association "AC le Feu" (Stop the Burning) raised concerns about lack of new initiatives by the government and local officials since last year's riots. He said that trying to solve the problem of criminality was not the main issue. Community leaders said the violence was born out of long-running problems, such as bad housing, poor education, lack of jobs and discrimination. After the meeting with the senators, Samir Mihi said: "Without hopes we would not have toured France and we would not be there today. So we have great hopes and we will continue to hope. And then with the presidential elections coming up the situation is going to be different. So we will count on the youngsters (to vote) and not anymore on the abstention". France suffered three weeks of rioting last year that started in poor, largely immigrant estates around Paris and rapidly spread to suburbs across the country in the worst wave of civil unrest since the 1968 student uprising. The burnt-out cars, torched store fronts, scattered bricks and petrol bombs are gone, but last year's riots still hang over 2007 French presidential elections like a menacing storm cloud before a downpour. The suburbs represent a microcosm of many of the problems France faces : unemployment, in pockets four times the national average of 9 percent, poverty, immigration, crime and an acute sense of exclusion amongst minorities from mainstream society. The anniversary of last year's riots, the worst in four decades, has put the suburbs back on the front pages, aided by a spate of vicious attacks by youths on police and leaded police reports warning that trouble could erupt at any time. At the same time on Wednesday afternoon, police unions held a press conference in Paris complaining about continuous attacks and ambushes by youngsters. They said that they prompt the policemen to make mistakes, and then use it to launch new riots. Some 100 policemen from all over France, holding banners reading "Together united, let's build a positive future" and called by Force Ouvriere union, gathered at the Bourse du Travail (Work Council) to express their distress. Few of them were recently attacked by youngsters in Epinay sur Seine. They called for a national day of action allowing them to refuse orders. "When people call a police station , police officers only intervene if they have enough policemen. In order to the administration to face up to its responsibilities and its duty to provide a maximum security to its employees, today, I suggest a national day of action allowing us to refuse an order", said Force Ouvriere union secretary general Nicolas Comte in front of an overexcited audience. Law and order is a campaign issue ahead of the 2007 presidential election, with both conservative frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy and his likely Socialist rival Segolene Royal defending tough policies to prevent crime.

ITN Source | October 26, 2006

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