US embassy cable - 05PARIS7525

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 007525 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KISL, FR 
SUBJECT: PARIS RIOTS CONTINUE FOR 7TH NIGHT 
 
REF: PARIS POINTS 10/31 11/2 AND 11/3 (EMBASSY PARIS 
     SIPRNET SITE) 
 
Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  The rioting that began October 27 in 
Paris' "inner city" suburbs has persisted, every night, for a 
week so far.  Running battles between riot police and 
rampaging youth have pitted tear gas and rubber bullets 
against taunts, stones, trash fires and car burnings.  The 
accidental electrocution of two youths, as they hid from 
police in a power transformer installation, sparked the 
unrest, which has now spread to nine neighborhoods in the 
belt of lower-income suburbs to the North and East of Paris. 
These neighborhoods are home to racially distinct -- North 
and Sub-Saharan African -- immigrant communities that suffer 
from chronic unemployment and rampant discrimination. 
Government officials -- foremost among them Prime Minister de 
Villepin and Interior Minister Sarkozy -- have depicted the 
riots primarily as an issue of law and order and protection 
of property.  Their critics, including in the opposition 
Socialist Party also for partisan purposes, see the problem 
more in terms of the unrelenting discrimination suffered by 
France's underclass minorities (doubly so when young and 
male) and have sharply criticized the government for an 
"overly forceful" response that may only exacerbate the 
situation.   While we believe the government will succeed 
eventually in calming the situation, the riots are a clear 
reminder of France's growing minority problem.  End Summary. 
 
The Accident that Set Off the Violence 
-------------------------------------- 
2.  (SBU) On the evening of October 27 -- apparently while 
returning from a pick-up soccer game, and, possibly, in a 
hurry to get home to break the Ramadan fast -- three 
teenagers, taking flight to avoid a likely police identity 
check (one may not have had his papers on him), scaled the 
wall of a power transmission substation in order to hide from 
police there.  Two were electrocuted, while a third was 
severely burned but survived.  Family members of the victims 
have said that the youths were being chased by police. 
Government officials have insisted that police were not 
pursuing the victims, suggesting instead that the boys only 
believed they were being chased.  (Note: Government 
spokespersons have provided -- and retracted -- differing 
versions of this event and other sub-plots in the burning 
suburbs story.  End note.)  The rumor quickly spread that 
police had killed the youths, sparking an initial round of 
car burning and destruction in the suburb of Clichy-sur-Bois 
during the evening of October 27. 
 
Unrest Spreads 
-------------- 
3.  (SBU) Since then, sporadic, night-time clashes have 
spread to nine similar neighborhoods, with police resorting 
to the use of rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse 
rampaging groups of youths.  On October 30, a tear gas 
canister landed inside a mosque in Clichy-sur-Bois, sending 
an estimated 700 worshipers fleeing.  Government officials 
have announced that it is so far unclear who threw the 
canister, and that they were investigating the incident. 
Whether a rogue provocation by an individual police officer 
or simply an accident, the mosque incident has highlighted 
the religious difference that also sets these suburbs apart 
from the rest of French society.  In all, at least 315 
vehicles have been set ablaze, numerous buildings damaged, 
and more than 100 rioters arrested.  There are press reports 
of minor injuries among both rioters and security forces, but 
no exact numbers have been released. 
 
Government Response 
------------------- 
4.  (SBU) Since the riots began, the government has deployed 
some 2,000 additional security forces to the affected 
neighborhoods.  On November 1, both PM de Villepin and 
Interior Minister Sarkozy met with the parents of the two 
victims.  Villepin promised the bereaved parents a full 
investigation into the deaths of their children.  Villepin 
also underlined "the need to restore calm."  Sarkozy also met 
that evening with other relatives of the victims.  Both 
Sarkozy and Villepin canceled or postponed travel plans 
abroad in order to focus on the government reaction to the 
riots.  Villepin called a meeting of concerned cabinet 
ministers (Interior, Defense, Education, Social Cohesion, 
Justice, Overseas Territories, and Equal Opportunity) on 
November 2 to address the situation.  The same day, President 
Chirac, addressing the weekly Council of Ministers, called 
for calm and for an end to a "dangerous situation."  Before 
the National Assembly on November 2, Villepin declared that 
the government was "fully mobilized" adding that, "our 
immediate priority is to restore public order, and restore it 
without delay." 
 
5.  (SBU) The Government's reaction to the events is 
consistent with the increasingly hard line it has begun to 
take in recent months.  Since first becoming Interior 
Minister in 2002, Sarkozy has built a formidable reputation 
as a "man of action" committed to cracking down on crime.  By 
coincidence, speaking in a difficult neighborhood on October 
25, two days before the riots began, Sarkozy announced a new 
policy to combat violence in the suburbs, proclaiming that he 
would "clear away" the "scum."  In all fairness to Sarkozy, 
however, it is also worth point out that, while tough on 
crime, he has also advocated a form of affirmative action 
("positive discrimination") to promote the integration of 
disadvantaged minorities, state funding for Islam in France, 
and an extension of limited voting rights to legal immigrants 
who lack French nationality. 
 
Government Under Fire 
--------------------- 
6.  (C) Since the riots began, Sarkozy's critics and 
political opponents have criticized his tactics and words, 
arguing they have only helped fuel the violence.  But there 
has also been a good deal of political posturing, aimed at 
weakening the center-right's leading candidate in advance of 
the 2007 presidential elections.  Socialist former Prime 
Minister (and 2007 presidential hopeful) Laurent Fabius 
claimed that Sarkozy has "created a terrible environment" for 
fighting crime in the Paris suburbs, and that Sarkozy needs 
to focus more on crime prevention and less on crime fighting. 
 Dominique Strauss-Kahn, another center-left presidential 
hopeful, echoed Fabius' sentiments and added, "Sarkozyism is 
not working." 
 
In-fighting Within the Governing Party 
-------------------------------------- 
7.  (C) Sniping has also occurred within the government as 
part of the Sarkozy-Villepin duel over control of the 
center-right.  Minister of Equal Opportunity (and Villepin 
ally) Azouz Begag sharply criticized Sarkozy's "warlike 
semantics."  Chirac's statement to the cabinet that "the law 
must be applied firmly and in a spirit of dialogue and 
respect," was widely seen as a swipe at Sarkozy.  For his 
part, Villepin has been heavily criticized for his "deafening 
silence" during the first five days of rioting.  Criticism 
has also been leveled at both Sarkozy and Villepin for 
"empty" posturing -- presenting themselves and their actions 
as on-top-of-the-problem and effective -- in order to burnish 
their image as presidential candidates. 
 
While Others Seek Underlying Causes 
----------------------------------- 
8.  (SBU) Beyond partisan politics, however, others are 
beginning to look past the nightly violence to identify the 
serious social problem underpinning the rioting: the failure 
of France to integrate adequately its immigrant population, 
which faces unemployment well above France's 10 percent 
average.  Since the late 1950s, immigrant workers arriving 
from North and Sub-Saharan Africa have been pushed into the 
bleak, densely packed suburbs that ring France's major 
cities, where they are subjected to job and housing 
discrimination as well as racial profiling by authorities. 
French ideals dictate that immigrants leave their cultural 
and ethnic identities at the border in order to assimilate; 
yet despite the pledge of "equality," the arrivals and their 
French-born children are regarded and treated as less than 
French by their compatriots.  A common refrain, born out by 
independent research, is that a non-French sounding name on a 
job or housing application is enough to doom the applicant's 
prospects regardless of qualifications.  As subsequent 
generations have determined that the promise of a better 
future for which their parents came to France is increasingly 
unattainable, they have become increasingly less willing to 
integrate.  It is a vicious cycle.  According to French 
sociologist Manuel Boucher, "French society is in a bad 
state... increasingly unequal, increasingly segregated, and 
increasingly divided along ethnic and racial lines." 
Describing the situation, one leader of a local Muslim 
Cultural Association said, "It's unemployment, it's pressure 
) it just exploded." 
 
Comment 
-------- 
9.  (C) The rioting is both a clear and present law and order 
problem and a symptom of deeper societal divisions. 
Currently, the riots are confined to small, prowling packs of 
young men in certain neighborhoods under cover of night. 
They do not appear likely to continue to grow significantly, 
and the government -- if it avoids exacerbating the situation 
-- should be successful in restoring order.  It is important 
to note that up until now, the riots have been driven by 
socio-economic frustration, and the religious link has been 
very minimal.  However, November 3 marks start of Eid al 
Fitr, and it is unclear if this might have an impact on the 
rioting.  Additional incidents could also aggravate the 
situation, and the chance exists, however slight, that the 
frustration and disenchantment of a broader spectrum of 
suburban residents could find some political manifestation -- 
such as a "general strike" in suburban neighborhoods. 
 
10.  (C) At this point, it is not clear what lessons the 
government will draw from the events.  As noted above, 
Sarkozy has made some limited attempts to deal with the 
situation by mixing his law-and-order message with a call for 
affirmative action, proposals to provide funding for Islam in 
France, and voting rights for non-citizens.  Given the 
polemics from the opposition Socialist Party and within his 
own party in the run-up to the 2007 Presidential elections, 
however, it seems more likely that the GOF will continue to 
try merely to manage the problem for the time being rather 
than come up with any long-term solutions. 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
Stapleton