‘The People Have Chosen Change’ -News.Sky.com: Well, one thing is for sure, they cannot blame the U.S. for any of the disturbances happening now.
Riot police in Paris fired tear gas into crowds which gathered after Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidential election victory.
The disturbances happened at the Place de la Bastille, a popular hub for demonstrations and strikes.
Thousands of police have been deployed in the capital and its suburbs.
Railway stations are also under high surveillance in case gangs of youths travel to disrupt victory festivities.
The trouble followed news that Sarkozy – a right-wing Conservative – is thought to have beaten socialist Segolene Royal by six points to replace Jacques Chirac.
The opposition candidate highlighted fears that a victory by him could spark unrest in the poor high-immigration neighbourhoods that were the scene of riots in 2005.
Mr Sarkozy, who was Interior Minister at the time, is a hate figure for many young people of black and Arab origin.
He has also been vilified as a hard-right authoritarian by many on the left.
I am so glad about this result
About which result? The elections or the disturbances?
Funny, I think Rupert Murdoch’s SKY news headline is an exercise in wishful thinking.
The fact that Sarkozy and Chirac represents the SAME political party – and it’s not really that much of a change – (which is not a bad thing, in my view)..
#2 actually, both. Here, the lambs following kuzco, are showing plaseure for the riots as a sign that france didn’t want the new president. Goes to show you how dumb those lambs can be. Unable to see the beam in their eyes…
It also shows that those “demonstrations” were carefully planned
#35 He already said that the 35 hour work week is a joke. Maybe they would not be that deep of a change. Only time will tell
Rightwingers in Europe are generally leftwingers here. The differences are usually over other issues. Sarkozy was elected because he is willing to stand up to Muslim rioters. Same way Blair is willing to say that black crime rates have to do with culture not poverty.
If Sarkozy actually does take away the 35 hour work week and other worker ‘protections,’ then I’ll believe he’s something different. That means he’s going after the other rioters in France who objected to the rule that you can fire someone after two years on the job.
It seems like some of the people living in France didn’t like the democratic choice the French made yesterday. Maybe they feel threatened by that choice and by what the new President means for them. I sincerelly hope France to be able to restore its national identity and order. Europe is collapsing from the inside and rioting in France has been a major symptom of that collapse. The very undemocratic riots themselves came to prove the point that a strong leader is needed and that Sarkosy was indeed the right choice.
#7 the fact that the extreme left from over here (read that, the government) was happy for the riots should also tell you something about what’s going on in Europe (but you know that faaaar better than me)
The French have a long history of rioting and mass protest so this reaction doesn’t surprise me. Given the rise of Germany and the expansion of the EU, France has to come to terms with not being the influential entity that it once was. I believe that Sarkozy knows this and will do his best to move the country out of the 19th century and into the 21st.
This will inevitably piss a lot of French people off and the question that remains is if Sarkozy will remain steadfast in making reforms despite their immediate unpopularity.
Interestingly, French make riots only when it is safe to do so.
Anyone can point me out to any riots (against Germans) during WWII etc?
Who the hell riots the results of a democratically run election? Oh wait…the French do.
11. Who the hell riots the results of an undemocratically run election? Apparently the USA doesn’t.
#12 I know you were aiming for cynical yet funny. Sadly, you failed on the latter
11. South Korean students have been well known to protest democratic election results.
12. People are still talking about this? Amazing. If you don’t like how the electoral college elects a president, maybe you should petition having the constitution amended. If Gore was able to carry his home state or Clinton’s he would have been the next president and we wouldn’t even be hearing this gripe. Somehow it comes down to a Bush and Florida conspiracy. Tennessee / Arkansas would have made Florida a non-issue.
But hey, who knows? Maybe Gore may run in 2008 and win.
The French protest for everything, period.
The French riot over lunch. It’s the way it is. Sarkozy not only took the female vote against a women running aganist him, he took a sizable portion of the Muslim vote and almost carried the blue collar vote(usually socialist voters).
Many people in France understand that 22% unemployment amoung under 25 y/o’s is unacceptable, loss of productivity due to the many holidays and 35 hour work week is unacceptable, the over regulation of any business that tries to open in France or be productive is unacceptable.
#6…MikeN…..it’s not that someone CAN be fired after two years thats the problem, but that you CAN’T be fired after 2 years at a job that is the problem. Banning companies from firing those who arn’t producing is one of the major causes of Frances decline in the world market, which leads to companies going under or moving out of France to Britian or Germany.
The last time the Socialists had power, under De E’stang, all of these draconian workers utopia laws were passed and every President since has been scared by the weekly ritual of French riots into not tampering with them. Sarkozy is from the old De Gualle party, which is considered Conservative. Chiac did absolutly nothing to improve the economy of France except steal from it. His chosen successor, the Prime Minister, De Villipin turned out to be another chicken hearted idiot and buckled under to the rioters about the 2 year firing law and then to make matters better, buckled under to the Muslim rioters last summer. Sarkozy on the other hand stood up to them and told them if they didn’t like the country that had allowed them entry and gives them free housing and money to leave and not let the door hit them in the proverbial ass. This and other Sarkozy policies are why HE is the new President of France and not the socialist Royal today.
And, he is not anti-American and has said so. That he felt Chirac went overboad in his relations with the U.S., but that the U.S. must make moves to improve it’s stance on Global Warming. For all my Neo-con friends who think that France as a country is anti-American, your WRONG! The French knew Sarkozy’s plan to make amends with us and approved of it. Now, thats not to say they like Bush, they don’t.
Sadly, the US government has pretty much the same rule as France has. After two years, you’re “career” and you can’t be fired for poor performance alone, only truly egregious things like not showing up for six months straight, sending emails to your entire building ranting against your boss, pr0n on your computer, and the like.
#17 so, the enron guys just were looking for a way to lay over their employees? and you guys pay them with jail, the nerve!