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France's 'moment of truth'

As the country takes stiff security measures to stem the violence, officials call the uprising "a warning."

PARIS - The French government declared a state of emergency Tuesday, enabling police to impose curfews and other extraordinary measures to combat the worst riots since the student uprisings of 1968 that toppled a government, and the prime minister said the nation faced a "moment of truth" over its failure to integrate Arab and African immigrants and their children.

The extraordinary security measures, which are valid for 12 days, clear the way for curfews after nearly two weeks of rioting in neglected and impoverished neighborhoods with largely Muslim communities.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin reached out to the heavily immigrant suburbs where the rioting began. He said France must make a priority of working against the discrimination that feeds the frustration of youths made to feel that they do not belong in France.

"We must be lucid: The Republic is at a moment of truth," Villepin told parliament. "The effectiveness of our integration model is in question." He called the riots "a warning" and "an appeal."

Despite his conciliatory tone, Villepin said that riot police faced "determined individuals, structured gangs, organized criminality" and that restoring order "will take time." Rioters have been using mobile phone text messages and the Internet to organize arson attacks, said police, who arrested two teenage bloggers accused of inciting other youths to riot.

The rioting is forcing France to confront anger building for decades among residents who complain of discrimination and unemployment. Although many of the French-born children of Arab and black African immigrants are Muslim, police say the violence is not being driven by Islamic groups.

Images of teenagers from immigrant families pelting riot police with stones and gasoline bombs - reminiscent of Palestinian youths attacking Israeli patrols - are striking a chord throughout the Arab world.

The Egyptian daily Al-Massaie referred to the riots as the intifada "of the poor." Arabic satellite networks have given lead coverage to the mayhem, with regular live reports. Newspapers throughout the region have closely followed the story, calling it a "nightmare" and a "war of the suburbs."

Arson attacks, rioting and other unrest have spread from the suburbs to hundreds of cities and towns - though acts of violence were down somewhat Monday night from the previous evening.

Arson attacks and street clashes continued Tuesday night in cities such as Toulouse and Lille, but violence appeared to abate nationwide on its 13th day, authorities said. The number of communities hit by disturbances declined from 300 to 226, according to Michel Gaudin, the director of the national police. The number of vehicles burned overnight dropped by 235, for a total of 1,173, he said.

Weary police chiefs felt the tide was turning against rampages, which have lost intensity in the region around the capital.

The 50-year-old state-of-emergency law that President Jacques Chirac invoked was originally drawn up to quell unrest in Algeria during its war of independence from France and was last used in December 1984 by the Socialist government of President Francois Mitterrand against rioting in the French Pacific Ocean territory of New Caledonia.

"For a period of 12 days, searches will be possible every time we suspect possession of weapons," said Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the beleaguered point man leading the attempt to restore order. He said the measure will help "systematically apprehend troublemakers and systematically prevent a spread of violence."

The widespread violence has already led France to begin fast-track trials, with 106 adults and 33 minors so far sentenced to prison or detention centers.

The violence started Oct. 27 as a localized riot in a northeast Paris suburb angry over the accidental electrocutions of two teenagers, of Mauritanian and Tunisian descent, while hiding from police in a power substation.

French historians say the rioting is more widespread and destructive in material terms than the May riots of 1968, when university students erected barricades in Paris' Latin Quarter and across France, throwing paving stones at police. That unrest, a turning point in modern France, led to a general strike by 10-million workers and forced President Gen. Charles de Gaulle to dissolve Parliament and fire Premier Georges Pompidou.

Information from the Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe was used in this report.

[Last modified November 9, 2005, 00:40:17]