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Riots Spread Across France

Over the weekend France saw no end to the riots which had begun in suburbs of the capital of Paris but then had spread to other cities throughout northern France. Police said groups of young men torched nearly 900 vehicles and at least a dozen schools (including nursery schools), police stations and youth centers around the country.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called eight ministers and a senior Muslim cleric to his offices in an emergency meeting Saturday to discuss the violence, but President Jacques Chirac maintained his silence. While fewer incidents of arson were reported in the towns hardest-hit in the first days of rioting, violence flared dramatically in other surrounding communities, police reported.

Chirac has not publicly addressed the crisis since it began October 27 after two teenagers from the Paris suburbs were electrocuted at a power substation while dodging a police checkpoint. Most of the political focus of coverage having to do with the riots has been on the rivalry between Prime Minister de Villepin and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, both contenders for the Elysees Palace in 2007.