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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: German television crew attacked in French riots German television crew attacked in French riots 8 November 2005 PARIS - In the 12th night of rioting in France, police report 330 arrests and 1,173 burned cars, and a German television crew was attacked in Strasbourg. In a desperate attempt to halt the urban unrest that has swept the country, the French government on Tuesday announced a series of measures intended to restore law and order and address the inequality and exclusion that is fuelling the violence. To restore calm to its cities, the government declared a state of emergency and authorized local officials to impose curfews in tense neighbourhoods after a 12th consecutive night of rioting. President Jacques Chirac said the extraordinary step decided in a cabinet meeting early Tuesday was "necessary to speed up the return to calm". According to the law, local authorities will be able to impose curfews in tense neighbourhoods, if they deem it necessary, beginning at midnight Tuesday and for a period of 12 days. In announcing the measure earlier Tuesday, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said the state of emergency would permit police to carry out searches of premises at any time if they suspected that weapons were stored there. "Re-establishing order will take time and will require long, hard work," Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told the French National Assembly at the beginning of a debate on the unrest Tuesday afternoon. In describing the new measures, Villepin said that anyone convicted of breaking the curfew will be liable to prison sentences of up to two months. Two local officials did not wait for the government action. The mayor of Orleans, Serge Grouard, decreed Tuesday that there would be a curfew for those below the age of 16 from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. throughout the entire community. On Monday, Eric Raoult, the mayor of Raincy, a northeastern suburb of Paris, imposed a curfew on his town "to avoid a tragedy". Addressing the National Assembly, Villepin also laid out in detail the government's proposals to attack what he called "social inequality" in France. One measure will be a redoubled effort on the part of the government to fight illegal immigration. "Social inequality is partly the result of badly controlled immigration," Villepin said, vowing that anyone living illegally on French territory would be expelled. A government agency for equal opportunity will be created to facilitate the integration of residents of France's suburban ghettoes, the scene of most of the recent violence, Villepin said. In addition, 5,000 additional teachers are to be hired in 2006 for the 1,200 trade schools in the economically fragile neighbourhoods, and efforts will be made to provide employment counselling to anyone living in these areas who requests it. Unemployment rates for those under 25 living in France's impoverished public housing estates is over 40 per cent, twice that of the same age group in other neighbourhoods. In addition, Villepin said the government would allocate an additional 100 million euros (118 million dollars) for NGOs and local associations working to assist the underprivileged in troubled areas. "The republic has come to an hour of truth," Villepin told deputies. "What is at stake is our model of integration." The government's action came after rioting raged into Tuesday morning throughout France. Nationwide, police sources reported 330 arrests and 1,173 burned cars as well as numerous buildings set on fire, all slightly lower than figures from the weekend peak. In the 12 days of rioting, more than 6,000 cars have been torched, some 1,550 people have been taken into custody and held for at least 24 hours and nearly 300 cities and towns have been touched by the unrest, police said. In eastern France, bands of youths hurled Molotov cocktails at cars, buses, schools, a church and a library, while in Strasbourg a German television crew was attacked, and two Italian journalists suffered the same fate in Clichy near Paris. Rioters burned about 40 cars late Monday in the greater Lyon area, as 12 people were taken into custody in sporadic violence in France's second-largest city, police said. In the southern city of Toulouse, bus drivers walked off their jobs Tuesday after a bus was commandeered by youths late Monday and set on fire. In the same city, more than 30 cars were torched, and hooded rioters hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at riot police, who responded with teargas. However, the director of the French national police, Michel Gaudin, said Tuesday that the past night "allows us to see a light at the end of the tunnel". "The intensity of the violence is on the decline, the number of attacks on public and private buildings is decreasing and there are fewer direct confrontations with the forces of order," Gaudin said. The chaos was set off by anger in France's immigrant community over the October 27 deaths of two teenagers who were electrocuted as they took refuge in a transformer shed because they thought they were being pursued by police.
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