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French mayor sets curfew
14/06/2007 12:15 - (SA)
Belfort, France - The mayor of a French town near the Swiss border is imposing a curfew for children under 16 after cars and buildings were torched in recent weeks, in violence believed linked to presidential and parliamentary elections.
Belfort Mayor Jean-Pierre Chevenement, a former defence minister who campaigned with the opposition Socialists against President Nicolas Sarkozy, ordered anyone under 16 in the Glacis du Chateau district of the city to stay inside between 22:00 and 06:00 from Friday through Tuesday, his office said.
Sarkozy's conservative party is on track to win an overwhelming majority of the National Assembly in the second round of parliamentary elections this weekend.
City Hall spokesperson Jean-Luc Gary said the decision came after weeks of violence that saw cars and public and private buildings burned, gas stations robbed and other vandalism around the time of the presidential elections in April and May and legislative elections this month.
In the latest incident, a day care centre and a soup kitchen were torched on Sunday night after the first round of parliamentary elections, in which Sarkozy's conservative party swept the vote.
Gary said some 200 people were gathered outside at midnight to watch the fires, including children as young as eight.
Tensions have simmered in rundown housing projects nationwide since 2005 riots by largely minority youth angry over discrimination, joblessness and alienation from mainstream society.
Sarkozy is reviled by many in such neighbourhoods - where many residents are of immigrant origin - for his harsh comments on delinquent youths and his tough stance on immigration.
Last year, the mayor of the Paris suburb Montfermeil banned teenagers from circulating in groups of more than three, and ordered youths under 16 to be accompanied by an adult in public.
A court later overturned the bans after protests from civil liberties groups.
- AP
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