French Dramatic Lockdown Has Impact On Insurrection
(AP) France's storm of rioting lost strength on Wednesday with a drop of nearly half in the number of car burnings, police said. But looters and vandals still defied a state of emergency with attacks on stores, a newspaper warehouse and a subway station.
The extraordinary 12-day state of emergency went into effect Tuesday at midnight, giving special powers to authorities in Paris, its suburbs and more than 30 other cities from the Mediterranean to the German border _ an indication of how widespread arson, riots and other unrest have become in nearly two weeks of violence.
The emergency decree invoked a 50-year-old security law that dates to France's colonial war in Algeria. It empowers officials to put troublemakers under house arrest, ban or limit the movement of people and vehicles, confiscate weapons and close public spaces where gangs gather. It also paved the way for curfews in areas where officials feel they are needed.
Amazingly, France has recognized that to fight an insurgency and/or domestic threat, you have to limit civil liberties. I guess even the liberal socialists realize that sometimes you have to sacrifice some liberties to protect the rest of them. This failure of their egalitarian belief structure should service to show the us that organizations like the ACLU are a clear and present danger to our nation. Personal liberties, at the expense of national security is national suicide.
The extraordinary 12-day state of emergency went into effect Tuesday at midnight, giving special powers to authorities in Paris, its suburbs and more than 30 other cities from the Mediterranean to the German border _ an indication of how widespread arson, riots and other unrest have become in nearly two weeks of violence.
The emergency decree invoked a 50-year-old security law that dates to France's colonial war in Algeria. It empowers officials to put troublemakers under house arrest, ban or limit the movement of people and vehicles, confiscate weapons and close public spaces where gangs gather. It also paved the way for curfews in areas where officials feel they are needed.
Amazingly, France has recognized that to fight an insurgency and/or domestic threat, you have to limit civil liberties. I guess even the liberal socialists realize that sometimes you have to sacrifice some liberties to protect the rest of them. This failure of their egalitarian belief structure should service to show the us that organizations like the ACLU are a clear and present danger to our nation. Personal liberties, at the expense of national security is national suicide.
