France to End State of Emergency

Violence Has Subsided Since Youth Riots Forced Measures

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French Endure Youth Rioting
Riots in France force curfews as civil unrest continues.

PARIS, Jan. 3 -- The French government on Wednesday will end the state of national emergency it imposed eight weeks ago to counter the violence and arson that erupted in more than 300 cities and towns across the country, President Jacques Chirac said Tuesday.

The original declaration was "essential," but "strictly temporary," Chirac told his cabinet Tuesday, but he added that "considering the situation of these past several weeks, I decided to end it." The government had planned to keep the measure in force for another six weeks.

During three weeks of unrest in late October and November, youths and young men of predominantly Arab and African descent set fire to an estimated 10,000 cars and attacked 255 schools, 233 other public buildings and scores of private businesses, according to police figures obtained by the French newspaper Le Monde.

Nearly 5,000 people were arrested and 400 were sentenced to jail terms in France's worst civil unrest since student demonstrations nearly four decades ago.

After nearly two weeks in which French police were unable to control the guerrilla-style tactics of the rioters, the government imposed a state of emergency using a law enacted half a century ago during France's unsuccessful war against rebels in its former colony of Algeria.

The law's activation, which was opposed by human rights organizations, socialist political leaders and other groups, gave police broad authority to conduct searches without warrants and impose curfews.

Officials feared a resurgence of problems on New Year's Eve, when -- even in calm years -- youths in poor suburban communities traditionally set cars ablaze in rituals of protest. On Saturday night, 25,000 extra police officers were deployed throughout the country in suburban neighborhoods where France's subsidized housing projects are located, as well as around famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Police said the 425 car burnings recorded around the country Saturday night were fewer than officials had feared, though the number was higher than the 333 blazes set during the previous New Year's Eve. "The situation today is not completely satisfactory, as was shown Dec. 31," a government spokesman, Jean-Francois Cope, told reporters after the president's meeting with the cabinet. He said, however, that the violence had subsided significantly.

It is unclear whether the emergency measures had a significant impact on the violence, according to community leaders. Only a handful of towns imposed curfews. The large number of arrests, which were allowed under the special law, and the intervention of parents and community leaders with youths curbed the violence in many neighborhoods, other observers said.

Chirac, largely a lame duck in what is likely his last year as president, urged the cabinet to do more to address the country's high unemployment, one of the biggest problems facing the people who were responsible for the rioting. Since the violence abated, however, Chirac's government has initiated few programs to address the discrimination and joblessness faced by immigrant communities.