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France Encounters Memories of Last Year
// Arson Again Afoot in Paris Suburbs
Young people in a Paris suburb clashed with police on Sunday, reminding those in the French capital of similar events last year. Though police quickly got the situation under control, France fears a repeat of last year's conflicts, which would threaten the country with new upheavals in the run-up to the presidential elections in 2007. Kommersant's special correspondent in Paris, Natalya Gevorkyan, has the details.
On Sunday there were somehow more police than usual in the Champs-Elysees region of Paris. There were no obvious reasons for it in the center of town. A light rain was falling, but it didn't disturb the people strolling unconcernedly under their umbrellas. It wasn't until late in the evening that I first heard the news that young people in a Paris suburb had clashed with police. By Monday morning, the square where the events had taken place was peaceful. It was difficult to believe that just a little less than a day ago cars and buses had been set alight here.
"Right here," pointed an elderly African woman. "A car was burning and making it impossible to drive further into the neighborhood, and so the bus stopped here. And they burned it too."
That took place at around two o'clock in the afternoon on Sunday, when people were either eating, or already drinking coffee, or simply strolling around. On the small square in the banlieue, young people burned a car that turned out later to have been stolen. It was impossible to drive around it, and the regular bus was forced to stop. Young men boarded the bus and chased out the passengers and the driver before opening the gas canisters they had brought with them, dousing the bus, and setting it alight. Those involved, according to witnesses, numbered about 50 young people.
After the incident, the driver of the bus was incoherent with shock and had to be taken to the hospital. He was the only victim of yesterday's events. Firefighters arrived at the square almost immediately, with the police hot on their heels. The crowd was asked to disperse. The events that followed evoked painful memories of what happened last year: a wall of youths facing a wall of police. Those on the one side throw rocks and whatever else they can lay their hands on, while those on the other side use tear gas and rubber bullets. In a matter of minutes, the crowd of youths was dispersed.
Street cleaners were immediately called to the square. The police believe that the best way of showing that the situation is under control is to quickly clean up after such incidents. Some time was spent dismembering the burned bus, since there was no other way to move it. By four o'clock, passers-by had begun to reappear on the square, some of them with video cameras.
Around five in the evening, the youths returned, this time armed with Molotov cocktails. The distance between the hooligans and the police narrowed dangerously. The crowd stopped around 30 meters from the policemen, who drew up in a formation familiar from the movie "Gladiator": a tight-knit group covered on all sides by shields. A motley shower of projectiles hit the shields. Fortunately, the incendiary materials were kept at bay by increasingly heavy rain, which soaked and extinguished the wicks immediately. When the police made a move to attack, the young people ran off into the surrounding streets, which the local youths, unlike the police, know like the backs of their hands. There were no further clashes. The first television cameras appeared in the square at 7:30 that evening, when everything had already calmed down. Nevertheless the police, fearing more acts of vandalism, remained in the neighborhood. A 13-year-old teenager and an adult were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the burning of the bus.
On October 27 of last year the Paris suburbs exploded in flames that burned until November 13. The events in the disadvantaged neighborhoods were a reaction to the deaths of two teenagers, who were electrocuted by a transformer in an electrical substation while reportedly hiding from police who were pursuing them. The flames were fanned by Internal Affairs Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who called the two youths "dregs of society." The French government was obliged to impose a curfew, which it had not done since the time of the war in Algeria and would have preferred never to do again. This year, according to police, only isolated incidents of attacks on policemen have been being reported in five towns of the Ile-de-France region in the last several days. These attacks usually take place early in the morning or late at night. Stones fly at police cars. In one case a policeman was dragged from his patrol car and beaten. According to French counterintelligence services, there are currently no preparations being made in the suburbs for an organized campaign. The main danger is posed by "difficult" young people who are simply unresponsive to calls for order.
France is both morally and materially interested in making sure that the events of last year do not repeat themselves. Last year's riots cost a total of 200 million euros in damages across the country. Ten thousand cars were torched. The events touched in one way or another 300 regions of the country and involved 233 government institutions. Of the 4,770 people arrested, 422 are serving time in prison. The number of policemen injured during the riots was 126.
The police and Mr. Sarkozy's allies believe that there will be no repeat of last year's events. The minister himself recently said as much on television. As a presidential candidate, Mr. Sarkozy understands perfectly what he stands to lose in this pre-election year if the banlieues decide to mark the one-year anniversary of the "uprising."
It is clear that if the suburbs ignite again, it will be due to the same problems that led to violence last year and that are, despite all wishes to the contrary, too complex to be resolved in such a short period of time. The government needs to be given its due: it has attempted to make some headway.
One hundred million euros have been funneled to organizations that work with local young people. In the last year 46,000 people have gotten work or a specialized education, more than 50,000 have been registered on the labor market, and 84,000 needy people have received public housing. In the budget for next year, 3.7 billion euros have been allocated to address the problems facing the most difficult regions.
Nevertheless, tensions have remained, and with them also the risks for the internal affairs minister, who hopes to win the presidential elections six months from now. Mr. Sarkozy will spend October 27 of this year away from Paris, out of harm's way, discussing completely unrelated problems. The police have been given instructions on how to behave in the banlieues in order to not provoke anyone while still keeping order: a fairly complicated task. In order to deter would-be vandals, a strict order to remove all illegally parked and abandoned cars has been issued, and the trash pick-up schedule has been changed in the interest of averting arson: the garbage trucks will now pick up trash throughout the day instead of only once a day in the evening. Police have appealed to local youth organizations and clubs with the request to keep the youth centers open until late in the evening in order to hold festivals and concerts. The police have even called on energy companies to make sure that all power substations are tightly locked. In the most dangerous neighborhoods, the police are asking the local administrations to assign police to patrol the upper floors of buildings in order to better control the situation.
France is on tenterhooks not only in the face of the last days of October but also of the beginning of November, when schools will let out for holidays and children from the suburbs will have nothing to occupy them. Specialists note several changes that have taken place in the last year. The age of the most "pugnacious" youths is getting lower all the time: the main danger of the current season is posed by 13-year-old boys. Another peculiarity of the times is that hooligans are immediately stepping into direct confrontations with police. The most active groups of young people are teenagers of African descent, i.e., the children of the most recent wave of immigrants. And finally, many parents who would have earlier reproached their children for violence have now begun to support them.
Natalya Gevorkyan
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 24, 2006
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