Europe suffered from international terrorist organizations in the 1960’s and 1970’s. French terrorists got into the game early, with several diverse groups trying to assassinate Charles de Gaulle through his long political career. I’m probably hopelessly biased, but I think the main reason why those groups were dismantled and the major players either caught or killed was due to aggressive and professional law enforcement.
But, of course, times change. A pair of France’s most notorious and dangerous criminal bosses were freed from prison a few years ago by their henchmen. One of the prison breaks, that of Italian mobster Antonio Ferrara, closely resembled a military operation, with machine gun fire being used to suppress the guards while RPG’s were reportedly used to blow open the gates of the facility. What is troubling is that this all took place at Fresnes Prison right outside of Paris, arguably the most secure in the entire country.
This news item reports that gangs of youths have been rioting after dark for the past two days in Clichy-sous-Bois, which is yet another suburb of Paris. The spark that caused this urban unrest was the deaths of two youths who reportedly climbed the fence of an electric substation and were electrocuted. They did this while fleeing the scene of a suspected burglary after the police showed up.
Things are understandably confused, with spokesmen from rival police trade unions either calling for help from the military and claiming that a civil war is taking place, or downplaying the situation as serious but hardly dire. (Acting on my own experience, I’d say that the calls for calling out the Army are rather premature at best.) What I find telling about all of this is summed up in a quote by the mayor of the suburb where the rioting is taking place.
“Thanks to you, France will now respect us more than this morning, before this silent march,” said Claude Dilain, mayor of Clichy-Sous-Bois, a suburb of high-rise social housing.
So the youths that are rioting are, in the main, descended from unassimilated Islamic immigrants. This is hardly surprising, since this is a problem that all of Europe is struggling to address. Some pundits have predicted that a civil war (a real one) could break out between them and the legitimate governments that offer shelter and protection. I personally think that this is unlikely, but I also have to admit that it is a possibility if a solution isn’t found.
France’s Minister of the Interior is named Nicolas Sarkozy, a man with far reaching political ambitions. He is positioning himself to make a run for Chirac’s job in 2007 on a law-and-order platform. This might work as long as he can claim that his efforts kept the peace and lowered the crime rate. His strategy for this is based on aggressive patrolling by the police, a method that will probably succeed since it’s exactly the same thing that has contributed to dramatically falling crime rates here in the United States.
If Sarkozy is elected as President of France, it will be ironic that the main achievement of his stint in the Interior Ministry will be the reduction of French crime by using methods tested for more than a decade here in the United States. But I wouldn’t expect him to admit that.
Story was on 3/14, can’t remember the year, maybe 2002.
Some scum decided to bust their bud out of a Paree jail.
They used a bazooka.
For all the guns we have, does anyone recall using a bazooka during a jailbreak or any other time?
And another thing, I remember Chicago in the 70s and 80s. I know the cops/firemen/paramedics got shot at.
What I don’t recall is that they ever had to enter the ghettos in armoured cars.
They do in frogistan when they have to go in to those cites.
Rioting there, fights in Britain, hope we enjoyed our mini-vacation.
Story was on 3/14, can’t remember the year, maybe 2002. Some scum decided to bust their bud out of a Paree jail. They used a bazooka.
I linked to the story above when talked about Italian mobster Antonio Ferrara. I thought they were using RPG’s instead of bazookas, but I could very well have been wrong.
James
In the US, the community policing and fix-broken-windows strategies of the 90s also coincided with a changed welfare policy and a thriving economy. If Sarkozy is adopting the successful American policing strategy, can he win higher office without/before enacting American-style reforms to the welfare state and business activity as well?
No, James, my recollection was from 02 0r 03.
A bazooka?? In Paris??? I think the guy had an Italian name. I thought that was very odd, considering on the whole, Europe has a thing against guns.
A group of apparent burglers get electrocuted by committing another crime (trespassing) in trying to escape capture for their crime, and this gives the local muslim thugs cause to riot?
In America, it’s not uncommon for riots to occur after a white cop shoots a black man, even when his apprehension of danger is reasonable under the circumstances (or even when the dead guy really was a violent criminal who would’ve shot the cop given the chance). While those riots are ridiculous and unjustified, they pale in comparison to the insanity of rioting because the cops merely pursued some apparent lawbreakers, who then, through their own idiocy, got themselves killed.
The only conclusion this allows is that the Muslim community in Europe will riot regardless of any external or non-racial considerations of right and wrong or fault and blame. The only question that seems to matter is, “Was a Muslim killed/hurt/shamed?” If yes –> riot.
This is a tribalistic mentality so naked and blatant that it says very bad things for the possibilities of European democracy.