In France, 'a Bomb Waiting for the Match'

Immigrant, Minority Youths in Streets a 3rd Night Near Paris; Violence Spreads South

By John Ward Anderson

Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, November 28, 2007; Page A17

VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France, Nov. 27 -- On the morning after a mob of angry youths torched the library in this small, immigrant-heavy town north of Paris during a second night of rioting, a group of local leaders stood outside the charred remains Tuesday and tried to make sense of what they saw.

"This was a symbol -- it's the Republic, the state, and so they threw molotov cocktails at city hall" and other government buildings, said Raymonde Le Texier, a Socialist senator who was mayor of Villiers-le-Bel for a decade. "People feel forgotten by the government powers, and it's the truth -- they have been forgotten by those in power."

. . . Two years ago, more than 8,000 cars were burned and 2,900 people arrested in three weeks of rioting that started after two minority teenagers were killed while fleeing police in Clichy-sous-Bois, a Paris suburb 10 miles southeast of Villiers-le-Bel; they were electrocuted after scrambling into a power substation.

. . . "There were rifle shots the first evening of violence," and Monday night "was worse," he said. "We're witnessing a climate of insurrection. We're now dealing with urban guerrillas, with people hiding in groups, throwing projectiles when night falls."

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France will either insist on the rule of law or become Beirut or Baghdad.

European nations of past empire brought colonials 'home' for cheap labor, never moved to integrate them into society and left them ghettoized to live in poverty and breed generations of hopelessness. There is much social work to be done and not enough physical work to provide meaningful jobs. These are the fruits of greedy choices and no amount of welfare can take the place of meaning in meaningless lives.

Having said that, France must insist its sovereignty. Throw rocks or shoot at police, burn buildings or cars and get deported to country of origin.

We didn't ask to be born or no one cares for me are not sufficient reasons to commit chaos. Clashes of culture are decided by the culture of the country in which you reside and in Morocco or Algeria a Frenchman lives by that law.

A nation controls that legal environment or fails to remain a viable nation.

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