France to impose curfews as rioting spreads

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced plans to impose curfews in areas hit by rioting to try to halt almost two weeks of unrest. Picture / Reuters

PARIS - France announced plans today to impose curfews on rundown suburbs hit by violence to try to halt almost two weeks of unrest in which one man has been killed and thousands of cars have been torched.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin rejected demands to call out the army but promised a firm line against rioters after violence hit a new level yesterday, prompting warnings that the unrest could damage investment and tourism in France.

As Villepin outlined his plans, violence erupted in a suburb of the southwestern city of Toulouse, where police said youths set fire to a bus and 21 cars.

At least two cars were set ablaze near Lille in the north, Reuters reporters said. Fourteen cars were on fire in the Yvelines district west of Paris and 17 in Seine-Saint-Denis north of the capital, police said.

The US embassy in Paris issued a new warning to Americans travelling in France to be careful following the violence, in which more than 1,400 cars were torched, 36 police were hurt and three schools and two churches were attacked.

Under growing pressure from opponents to end the violence, Villepin said: "Wherever it is necessary, prefects will be able to impose a curfew." He said the cabinet would take the required steps to empower the prefects under a 1955 law at a special cabinet meeting called by President Jacques Chirac, but did not say how long and where the curfews would apply.

He said 1,500 police and gendarmes would be brought in to back up the 8,000 officers already deployed in areas hit by unrest that began in a poor Paris suburb on Oct. 27. He also promised to accelerate urban renewal programmes.

But dismissing growing calls for army intervention, he said: "We have not reached that point."

The conservative government has struggled to formulate a response that could halt the unrest, which was sparked by frustration among ethnic minorities over racism, unemployment and harsh treatment by police.

The unrest, involving poor whites as well as French-born citizens of Arab or African origin complaining of racism, began after the accidental electrocution of two youths fleeing police outside Paris and has spread to other towns and cities.

The violence spread further yesterday even though one of France's Muslim organisations, reacting to official suggestions that Islamist militants might be orchestrating some of the protests, issued a fatwa against the unrest.

The first fatality in the wave of violence was Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, who died today after being beaten in the northern Paris suburb of Stains. Le Chenadec had been in a coma since.

Several hundred people gathered in Stains to pay tribute to him. Some laid flowers at the spot where he was attacked and others wore stickers saying: "Together, let's say no to violence".

In the most serious incident, youths at a housing estate in Grigny, south of Paris, ambushed police with rocks, petrol bombs and guns. Two policemen were seriously hurt.

"This is real, serious violence. It's not like the previous nights. I am very concerned because this is mounting," said Bernard Franio, head of police for Essonne, south of Paris.

"There were burnt cars all over the place and helicopters circling overhead," said Yvonne Roland, a Grigny resident.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's tough line has been widely criticised but Chirac called on Sunday for order to be restored in comments that appeared to endorse Sarkozy.

The United States has warned citizens to avoid areas hit by unrest and other countries have urged visitors to show caution. There have been some acts of arson abroad, including cars set on fire in Brussels and Berlin, but riots have not spread there.

"Nothing seems to be able to stop the civil war that spreads a bit more every day across the whole country," the Action Police CFTC union said. "The events we're living through now are without precedent since the end of the Second World War." But national police service chief Michel Gaudin refused to be drawn into comparisons between this surge of violence and protests that shook France in 1968.

The head of France's main employers' group expressed concern about the impact the unrest could have on tourism and investment in France, where sluggish growth is stifling job creation.

"France's image has been deeply damaged," Laurence Parisot said.

- REUTERS