Don't Let Me Stop You: Chirac Blames Society for Riots

French President Jacques Chirac says the riots 'exposed inequality', according to The Guardian:

"Jacques Chirac yesterday acknowledged that the urban violence in France had exposed the 'undeniable problems' faced by many inhabitants of immigrant communities, and said that they had to be responded to quickly.

The French president said discrimination and inequality were feeding the rebellion of young people in deprived suburbs. 'Whatever our origins, we are all the children of the republic, and we can all expect the same rights,' he said.

Seems like for a lot of the immigrants the main problem is their cars have been torched. Their other big problem is that the police have abandoned them to the tender mercies of violent street gangs.

According to The Guardian "only" 482 vehicles were burned last night vs. 617 in the other report. Who knows?

"Human rights groups sharply criticized Wednesday's announcement by the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, which stated that all foreigners convicted of involvement in the rioting, including those with residence permits but excluding minors, would be deported. They were even angrier at a conservative MP's white paper proposing that naturalised citizens found guilty should be stripped of citizenship. Mr Sarkozy said 120 foreigners had been arrested over the unrest."

Deporting non-citizens caught rioting seems eminently reasonable. Keeping them out may prove difficult. There are no border checks at all between France and its EU neighbors anymore. You just drive right on by. Given this, it could be hard to prevent deported troublemakers from returning. How can you deport a citizen, though? Doesn't seem like that will fly. Even deporting non-citizens caught rioting is too much for some folks:

"Dominique Sopo, president of the anti-racism group SOS Racisme, said the minister's measure was illegal as it amounted to mass deportation. French law and the European convention on human rights required expulsions to be considered case by case. Another anti-racism group, MRAP, said it was horrified by the 'dangerous proposition'. France Terre d'Asile, which assists refugees, said the measure was 'certain to add fuel to the flames'."

How rude to actually deport foreigners rioting in our streets. What has happened to tolerance? The countries they'll be sent to don't allow rioting, so what will these poor chaps do then?

Here's some background information on Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the most interesting French politician around. True, that isn't saying a lot, but he really is interesting.

Technorati: France, riots, French riots, intifada, Muslims