Paris IS Burning
by C. L. Cook
No, it's not the famous namesake hotel heiress, but Paris, eternal city of light, ablaze in the aftermath of Sunday's presidential elections.
Though receiving scant notice in the North American press, Nicolas Sarkozy, the man who typified himself during the campaign as the French equivalent of a "uniter, not divider" has done just that in the capital. It all promises for a tres chaud Ete in the city of love.
Sarkozy skipped the country following the poll, ostensibly to celebrate with his family and friends on Malta. Hiding out in the historical stronghold of the Knights Templar may be better part of valor for the hard-right pol readers may remember as the man who recommended the country's immigrant population, who rioted last year in protest of the stagnate economy, and systemic racism against "non-French" citizens be hosed off the streets like so much garbage.
Seems the "garbage is determined to make a stink, with more than 500 arrested following an orgy of arson across the country Monday night. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported riot police moving in to disperse crowds in the Bastille area of the city, while Gendarmes fought rioters along the central, Avenue of the Republic.
Germany's Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), reports more than 730 cars destroyed, several schools vandalized, and 592 arrests made nation-wide. In Paris, there were 79 arrests reported, and 35 vehicles wrecked.
 Now, back to Ms. Hilton's prison woes.
|