Press Interpreter

11/09/05 -- Curfews were ordered on Wednesday, November 9, in several large cities in France, where suburban violence nevertheless seemed to be on the decline after the government's establishment of a state of emergency to rein in a crisis that has raged for nearly two weeks.

Faced with this unprecedented crisis, the Ministry of Justice announced Wednesday that law enforcement has imprisoned 273 of the 1,462 detainees under surveillance after thirteen straight nights of violence in the French suburbs. Among those behind bars are 56 minors, 173 adults sentenced to hard prison terms, and 44 others placed under state custody awaiting trial.

The state of emergency, declared on Tuesday by virtue of a 1955 law based on the war in Algeria, went into effect on Wednesday. In 25 departments* (out of 100), including Paris and its suburbs as well as the principal urban areas of the country, the prefects — who represent the State — will have the authority to impose curfews until November 20.

Decrees forbidding minors from going out at night unaccompanied have been issued in thirty rural towns. Starting this evening, two regions will be their chief concern: Côte d'Azur, notably the city of Nice, and Normandy, particularly the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Six central towns, including the city of Orléans, were also affected. The other five cities are Fleury-les-Aubrais, Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle, Saint-Jean-de-Braye, Pithiviers, and Bondaroy. The decrees were made "considering the necessity of responding to the development of serious urban violence taking place since November 3, and the majority of the minors implicated in acts of violence tallied up these past few days,"** explained the prefecture of Loiret in a statement.

NO CURFEWS IN THE PARISIAN REGION

On the other hand, the prefects of the departments in the Parisian region, including the place where the October 27 riots took place after the accidental death of two adolescents, said that at the moment they didn't expect to have to resort to curfews due to an observed decrease in violence in these particular areas. There is no longer any curfew in the following departments: Bouches-du-Rhône, Côte d'Or, Haute-Garonne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Moselle, Nord, Puy-de-Dôme, Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Rhône, and Vaucluse.

While interrogations and judgments in immediate court appearances are on the rise, the Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, has again demonstrated his determination to restore order: he demanded that the prefects expel "without delay" all foreigners implicated in the urban violence, including those who have fixed-stay permits.

The government has thus chosen to take a firm stance. According to a survey released Wednesday, 73% of the French (surveyed) approve of the recourse to curfews, which emphasizes the seriousness of the crisis, the worst of its kind France has seen in several decades. Although incidents continued during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, for the thirteenth consecutive night, a definite decrease in the violence has been observed. The Ministry of the Interior announced a "drop" in burned vehicles, counting 617 vehicles torched, or about half the number of the previous night.

(With AFP and Reuters)

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* A department (French: département) is an administrative region in France. The country is divided into exactly 100 such regions.

** The italics mimic those in the original article.

--Translated By Chris Drake

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