Chirac vows to restore order
Riots erupted in France last night for the 11th day after a weekend in which cars were set alight in central Paris and the clashes spread to poor districts in towns across the nation. President Jacques Chirac said after a meeting of ministers and advisers: " The Republic is quite determined, by definition, to be stronger than those who want to sow violence or fear. The law must have the last word." For a beleaguered and muddled government, there were signs of hope at the weekend. In two Paris suburbs, young arsonists were seized by older residents and handed to the police: the first signs of a revolt against the revolt by people who are the primary victims of the riots. People of all races and religions marched silently through three suburban towns on Saturday, calling for a return to calm and common sense. The parents of two teenage boys whose deaths sparked the original unrest in Clichy-sous-Bois, north-east of Paris, put out a moving and dignified statement. "We call for tempers to cool down and for an end to all violence and for a return to a sense of civic duty on all sides. France does not deserve this," said the families of Bouna Traore and Zyed Benna, who died after they climbed into an electricity sub-station to escape a police identity check.
It remains to be seen how far such appeals will influence the youths. Although the Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has spoken darkly of " organisation" of the riots by drugs barons or Islamist radicals, police chiefs and social workers dismiss such claims. Police intelligence experts say that almost all of the violence is coming from known gangs, with help from other local youths, some as young as 10 or 12. There can be no co-ordination between the gangs in different cités (housing estates), they say, because they detest each other as much as they detest the police.
The Union of French Islamic Organisations issued a fatwa against rioting after officials suggested that Muslim militants could be partly to blame.
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