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| Riot police officers patrol in Paris suburb, Aulnay-sous-Bois, early Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005. (Xinhua/AFP photo) | PARIS, Nov. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- French President Jacques
Chirac called for calm Wednesday, warning that lawlessness and further rioting
in Paris suburbs would lead to a dangerous situation.
"Tempers must calm down. The law must be applied in a spirit ofdialogue and respect," Chirac said after French
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy briefed him on the situation in the wake of
six nights of riots in the southeast of Paris since last Thursday.
"A lack of dialogue and an escalation of
disrespectful behavior would lead to a dangerous situation," Chirac was quoted
by his spokesman Jean-Francois Cope.
The head of state intervened after the ongoing
incident unveiled integration difficulties of young immigrants in some 300
French cities.
Chirac ordered government officials to hand in within
one month proposals to enhance equality and prevent delinquency.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
postponed his trip to Canada and called an emergency meeting of cabinet
ministers working on measures preventing violence in sensitive areas.
The French government is pressured by opposition
partes, such as the French Communist Party and the Socialist Party, to establish
an inquiry commission and disclose exact and exhaustive information.
Paris police reported more than 150 fires overnight,
most of which involved burning cars and garbage cans. Throughout the
Seine-Saint-Denis area, some 60 vehicles were torched.
The riots began first on Thursday and Friday nights
in Clichy-sous-Bois, home to immigrants from Muslim North Africa, in northeast
Paris, where two local teenagers, Ziad, 17, and Banou, 15, were electrocuted
Thursday while they were running away from police.
Local people said the police's rough ways in pursuing
suspects and dealing with the unrest, which smack of racial
discrimination,stirred up the tension. Enditem |