Sarkozy said he had asked authorities to be "uncompromising" with vehicle arsonists and said those caught burning other people's cars should lose their own licences until the damage had been paid for. "There is no reason why honest people should have to pay the consequences of the behaviour of delinquents," he said in an address to emergency service staff who worked over the evening of Dec. 31. Car burnings are regular occurrences in France, where some 36,700 were recorded in the first 11 months of 2008, according to interior ministry figures. But registering the New Year's Eve total has become something of a tradition since rows of blazing vehicles became one of the most potent images of the violent rioting that shook many of France's poor suburbs in 2005. Authorities said 1,147 cars were burned on Dec. 31, up from 878 last year, with a regional breakdown showing the Seine-Saint-Denis region near Paris the most heavily affected.
"There is no reason why honest people should have to pay the consequences of the behaviour of delinquents," he said in an address to emergency service staff who worked over the evening of Dec. 31.
Car burnings are regular occurrences in France, where some 36,700 were recorded in the first 11 months of 2008, according to interior ministry figures.
But registering the New Year's Eve total has become something of a tradition since rows of blazing vehicles became one of the most potent images of the violent rioting that shook many of France's poor suburbs in 2005.
Authorities said 1,147 cars were burned on Dec. 31, up from 878 last year, with a regional breakdown showing the Seine-Saint-Denis region near Paris the most heavily affected.
(Oh, one would think he already 'won' against the racaille two years ago...) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
1,147 cars were burned on Dec. 31, up from 878 last year
Earlier in 2008, President Sarkozy prompted the government to pass a law dramatically improving the compensation and relief conditions for the victims of car arson, many of whom were left without any transportation for going to, you know, "work more to earn more", and were therefore the perfect symbolic victims for our hyper-active president.
Looks like the improved compensation was a little bit too tempting: journalists had a field day finding kids who readily confessed having been told to "burn this car" for a couple of euros... (I mean, 30% up? Come on!)
This "France, land of the car arsonists" fantasy has been often deconstructed here on ET: year in, year out, the figures aren't much different from other European countries, and -- surprise -- all too often, it burns down to good ol' insurance fraud (no pun intended).
But, hey, it's all in the story telling -- an art our president has perfectly mastered. After all, what's the use of telling everybody and their mother in law what you're gonna do to the arsonists if you aren't able to catch them in the first place? Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
