November 08, 2005

Curfew Seems to be Fairly Effective

"New violence hits France despite emergency laws:"

PARIS (Reuters) - Youths threw Molotov cocktails at police and torched cars in several French cities and towns in a 13th night of violence, ignoring the government's imposition of rarely used emergency laws.

Police said at least 190 cars were set ablaze on Tuesday night and that 70 people had been arrested, but an official said the incidents were sporadic and seemed less violent than on Monday night when more than 1,000 cars went up in flames.

..."There was a marked decrease (in violence) during the first half of the night," a police spokesman said. "But we will have to see what the rest of the night will be like." 

So far it looks like the curfew is keeping most of the rioters indoors. 

French Curfew Starts Later Today

The curfew is set to start at 2300 GMT:

"The Republic faces a moment of truth ... France is wounded. It cannot recognize itself in its streets and devastated areas, in these outbursts of hatred and violence which destroy and kill," Villepin told the lower house of parliament.

"A return to order is the absolute priority. The government has shown this. It will take all the steps necessary to ensure the protection of our citizens and to restore calm ... We see these events as a warning and as an appeal."

Five cars were torched in Brussels in what officials say could have been copycat attacks, but the rioting did not spread across the border. Even so, fears of riots erupting in other countries helped push down the value of the euro.

Villepin's conservative government adopted a decree at an emergency session under a 1955 law that allows regional government officials known as prefects to impose curfews if they consider it necessary.

The decree was due to take effect at 2300 GMT, after the Interior Ministry decides where prefects can impose curfews not widely seen here since the Algerian war of 1954-1962.

I think 2300 GMT is 2pm Pacific Time. Let's see if the curfew holds later today. 

Presumably it will. One of the next developments to watch would be, how successful will the rioters be in excluding the French government from controlling the areas of France in which they live.

French Riots, Night 12—French Gov’t Finally Thinks of Imposing a Curfew

Let me get this straight -- it took 12 nights of rioting for the French government to come up with the notion of a curfew?

The renewed violence followed a warning by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin that he would take a firm line against lawbreakers, including reinforcements for police and curfews not seen here since the Algerian war of 1954-1962.

Maybe it will actually work. In which case, one would have to wonder what took them so long to impose it.

Villepin ... dismissed growing calls for army intervention, saying: "We have not reached that point."

How much of France would have to be destroyed to get to that point?

Today's announcement makes the whole thing seem absurd. The rioters burn down everything they can get to, and the French government is really okay with it. They let it play out for a couple of weeks, and then put up a curfew that could have shut the whole thing down on day 2.

In 2001, Ann Coulter jokingly said:

We must attack France. What are they going to do? Fight us?

If the curfew doesn't work, we may get a chance to find out if France is willing to defend Paris. 

If it does work, after inflicting so much damage on the non-Muslims, the rioters will have made their point, that they can attack France at any time. They will be in a strong negotiating position, via blackmail, to secure large regions within France under Islamic, rather than French, rule -- this time, recognized officially, rather than unofficially.