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November 8, 2005

France: Megaphone Mullahs On Streets

Last night, more unrest continued in France for the twelfth night, but apparently with less ferocity than on previous nights. The Times has an article on Imams with megaphones trying to quell the disturbances, but the link leads to an empty page at present. In the printed edition, these bearded imams are supported by the government, and their case is backed up by the fatwa issued by the Union of Islamic Organisations of France (UOIF), which has links to the Egyptian-originated radical group, the Muslim Brotherhood. The fatwa has been criticised by the mainstream Muslim Council, which said the edict equated Islam with the current vandalism.

Last week, on one night, the "big brothers", Muslim mentors, were allowed to handle the situation in Clichy-Sous-Bois, where the rioting had originally started. "The supposed mediation of big brothers crying out "Allahu akbar (God is Great) is one sign among many of the capitulation of the legitimate authorities", said Bruno Gollinsch, a leading figure in Jean-Marie le Pen's right wing National Front party.

The academic Tariq Ramadan, currently in Britain on an Oxford University Fellowship, has also criticised the fatwa against the riots, according to Islam OnLine. Ramadan (pictured) stated "Above all, one must not Islamisize the question of the suburbs. The question that France must answer is absolutely not a question of religion." He blamed a socio-economic divide and unemployment for the current unrest. His comments do not explain why two synagogues have been attacked in Paris, nor the attacks against nursery schools.

The BBC states that the French government has approved the issuing of curfews by local authorities in towns where rioting is a problem. The order was approved by Nicolas Sarkozy, validated by a French law from 1955 which allows a state of emergency to be declared in all or parts of France.

Paris saw a night of relative calm last night, but elsewhere in the country, unrest continued, which saw 1,173 vehicles set alight and a dozen buildings burned. North of Paris, a school was burned in Nord-Pas-de-Calais and another in Picardie. In Toulouse rioters set a bus alight and in Lille a creche was burned and cars set on fire. Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Miniser, said 1,500 police would be drafted in to supplement the 8,000 already fighting the unrest. Last night 330 arrests were made in France.

The tally so far, according to the BBC is: 5,873 cars set alight, 1,500 people arrested, 17 sentenced, 120 police and firefighters injured, and one man, Jean-Jacques Chenadec, killed.

The Times print edition (p 6) stated that the rioting was being copied in Brussels, where cars were burned, and also Berlin, Germany, where five cars were damaged in arson attacks on Sunday night.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 8, 2005 8:51 AM

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