(no subject)
PARIS, France (CNN) -- The French Cabinet has approved emergency measures giving police more powers and allowing local officials to impose curfews in communities at risk of rioting after the nation endured a 12th night of unrest.
President Jacques Chirac said the new powers were "necessary to accelerate the return to calm."
The government decree authorizing curfews will take effect at midnight Tuesday, The Associated Press reported. Other measures include allowing police to carry out raids for suspected stockpiling of weapons.
The emergency powers can last up to 12 days.
Chirac convened Tuesday's Cabinet meeting to invoke a 1955 emergency law providing for curfews. The law was passed to curb violence during Algeria's struggle for independence.
"We will now be able to act in a preventative manner to avoid these incidents," Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said after the meeting.
"We will monitor, bit by bit, the evolution of events," AP quoted him as saying. "For a period of 12 days, raids will be possible every time that we have a suspicion of a stockpiling of weapons."
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told the National Assembly later on Tuesday that rioters would face two months in jail.
Villepin also said France faced a choice between "division or coming together."
"We must be lucid: The Republic is at a moment of truth," AP quoted Villepin as saying.
Am I the only person that this hits? The idea has spread to Brussels and Berlin as well... 17 foiled in rioting attempts in Australia... Saddam Hussein's co-defendant lawyer... shot to death. Violence, stall of peace what the fuck, Earth. After shocks in Pakistan.. AGAIN.
This'll never end.
President Jacques Chirac said the new powers were "necessary to accelerate the return to calm."
The government decree authorizing curfews will take effect at midnight Tuesday, The Associated Press reported. Other measures include allowing police to carry out raids for suspected stockpiling of weapons.
The emergency powers can last up to 12 days.
Chirac convened Tuesday's Cabinet meeting to invoke a 1955 emergency law providing for curfews. The law was passed to curb violence during Algeria's struggle for independence.
"We will now be able to act in a preventative manner to avoid these incidents," Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said after the meeting.
"We will monitor, bit by bit, the evolution of events," AP quoted him as saying. "For a period of 12 days, raids will be possible every time that we have a suspicion of a stockpiling of weapons."
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told the National Assembly later on Tuesday that rioters would face two months in jail.
Villepin also said France faced a choice between "division or coming together."
"We must be lucid: The Republic is at a moment of truth," AP quoted Villepin as saying.
Am I the only person that this hits? The idea has spread to Brussels and Berlin as well... 17 foiled in rioting attempts in Australia... Saddam Hussein's co-defendant lawyer... shot to death. Violence, stall of peace what the fuck, Earth. After shocks in Pakistan.. AGAIN.
This'll never end.