[Mb-civic] CBC News - FRANCE ALERTED TO INTERNET THREATS OF VIOLENCE

Sat Nov 12 19:40:06 PST 2005

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FRANCE ALERTED TO INTERNET THREATS OF VIOLENCE
WebPosted Sat Nov 12 00:55:21 2005

---French authorities are bracing for more unrest this weekend after
messages calling for violence in Paris were posted on the internet and
distributed by text messaging.

Truckloads of riot police have been deployed in the French capital. A
weekend ban on gatherings of "a nature that could provoke or encourage
disorder" from 10 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday has been imposed.

"Messages distributed in the last few days over the internet and by text
messaging have called for gatherings Nov. 12 in Paris and 'violent
actions,' in the words of their authors," a Paris police headquarters
statement said.

National Police Chief Michel Gaudin said five people have been taken
into police custody on suspicion of putting up internet sites calling
for violence.

Central Paris has largely escaped more than two weeks of violence
across France.

It peaked last Sunday but has fallen in intensity since President
Jacques Chirac's government announced emergency measures on Tuesday
including curfews.

But more than 300 cars were torched across the country and 119 people
arrested overnight. In the south, an attacker threw two firebombs into a
mosque during Friday prayers, causing minor damage.

Overnight into Saturday, arsonists destroyed part of a primary school in
the eastern town of Savigny-le-Temple, set two stores ablaze in
Rambouillet, west of Paris, and set fire to a library inside the town
hall in the western town of Angers.

The unrest has mainly hit poor suburbs around main towns and cities as
youths who complain about the lack of opportunities have attacked
property and torched thousands of cars.

Violence erupted Oct. 27 after the accidental electrocutions of two
teenagers hiding out in a power substation to escape police.