Riots: Emergency powers slated
08/11/2005 18:22  - (SA)  

'Joblessness' fuelling riots State of emergency in France Tourists 'safe' in Paris French govt hits back First riots victim remembered Timeline of French riots Riots spread to 300 towns France: Riots 'out of control' French riots defy crackdown

Paris - The French government's decision to invoke a 1955 law in order to impose emergency powers in riot-hit areas of the country sends a message of "astonishing brutality", France's leading newspaper Le Monde said on Tuesday.

Recalling that the law was originally drawn up to deal with disturbances at the start of the long war in Algeria, the daily said in an editorial that the decision to revive it showed that Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin "does not yet have the nerves of a statesman".

"Exhuming a 1955 law sends to the youth of the suburbs a message of astonishing brutality: that after 50 years France intends to treat them exactly as it did their grandparents.

"The prime minister should recall that at that time the combination of misunderstanding, warlike posturing and powerlessness brought the republic to its worst ever moment," the paper said.

The 1955 law allows the government to declare a state of emergency in parts or all of the country.

State authorities can then declare curfews, order house-searches, prohibit public meetings and issue banning orders on named individuals.

 

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