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Chirac says unrest will be met with firmness

Vaiju Naravane

President promises to tackle unemployment, discrimination

Paris: After a long and rather baffling silence, French President Jacques Chirac has made a televised address to the nation, saying the current unrest in France would be dealt with firmness and justice.

Describing the urban, mainly immigrant riots that have rocked the country for almost 20 days, as the signs of "a crisis of identity", Mr. Chirac said the emergency measures adopted by his Government allowing the imposition of curfews with exceptional powers to the police to conduct raids and searches were "strictly temporary".

Mr. Chirac, looking thinner and weaker (he has kept his public appearances to a minimum since his hospitalisation for a mini-stroke last September), wore spectacles rather than the contact lenses he usually favours.

"Perhaps, he wished to create an impression that a fatherly or rather grandfatherly figure full of wisdom was addressing the sons and daughters of the republic," said Abdel, a 23-year-old student of Tunisian descent who watched the speech with a group of his friends. Mr. Chirac appealed directly to youths from the poor, high-immigration suburbs where the unrest has been concentrated, assuring them of their place in French society.

"I wish to tell the children from these difficult neighbourhoods, whatever their origins, that they are all sons and daughters of the republic," he said.

Smouldering violence

Although the violence is distinctly on the wane, it has not subsided altogether and there are still reports of over 200 cars being burnt every night and some direct confrontations between police and gangs of youths, particularly in the western city of Toulouse, home to Airbus Industries, the makers of airbus aircraft.

Mr. Chirac's address, which attempted to combine firmness on law and order with a pledge to tackle the underlying problems of large-scale unemployment and racial discrimination, was seen as a test of his authority in the crisis. All rioters would face justice, the President said, warning parents who failed to keep their children under control they would face punishment.

Much of the President's 15-minute, pre-recorded speech focused on tackling unemployment and discrimination.

He also announced plans to improve access to the workplace for black and Arab youths, the children and grandchildren of immigrants from France's former African colonies, who complain of high unemployment and discrimination.

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