APRIL 8th PREDICTION

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Or Smart EU Beast?

When we don't see it, it's just happening somewhere else. The 25 EU heads had their informal summit. And, guess what? Nothing formal happened (Read about it here)>>>> http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/1...lair/index.html

Why should that surprise us?

I think the EU beast may have something much more to worry about right now. Take for example this interesting article about how Iran has begun paying for terrorists to attack Israel (Read about it here)>>>> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1849215,00.html

And, you know how the EU3 have been trying to politely check Iran's nukes at the door? What was the Iranian President's diplomatic response? He said Israel should be wiped off the map.

All isn't lost though. It turns out India has sided with the EU3, the US, and the rest of the international community against Iran's nukes. Boom! Bombs suddenly go off in New Delhi (Read about it here)>>>> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNGV5FGE1N1.DTL

Wait a miniute. Remember that other article about Iran paying for bombs in Israel?

Before I thought we had a confused EU beast.

Now I think it's smart.

And, a little scared.

10-30-05

http://fulfilledprophecy.com/or_smart_eubeast.html

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Nov. 1, 2005 1:03 | Updated Nov. 2, 2005 12:37

Gov't OKs EU monitors at Rafah crossing

By HERB KEINON

The security cabinet approved the placement of an EU contingent at the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Tuesday, but the role envisioned for this force caught some EU officials by surprise.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with visiting Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini after the approval and said the force should have "real powers," not just supervisory ones.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom reiterated his words after his meeting with Fini. He made it clear that while no decision had yet been made on who would be searching luggage at the crossing, Israel wanted to see the EU force in a hands-on mode.

Fini said that while he personally would also like to see the EU contingent play an active role, this still needed to be agreed upon by the EU countries.

Although Sharon and Shalom indicated their desire to see the EU monitors take an active role in running the border crossing, one official close to the negotiations said their role would not be to inspect suitcases and identify people, but rather to monitor the performance of the Palestinians as they perform these tasks. The job of the monitors, he said, would be to provide technical assistance, and also point out to the Palestinians when they thought that some task was not being performed correctly.

According to diplomatic assessments in Jerusalem, France and Spain have been pushing for an EU role, while Britain was "less enthusiastic" and Germany was hoping some other solution could be found.

Shalom said an EU team was on its way to Israel to hold discussions with both sides.

He termed the security cabinet's decision "historic" and said it gave the EU - which has for years expressed an interest in taking a more active part in the diplomatic process - an unprecedented role. Shalom said the willingness to give the EU this role indicated a newfound trust and confidence in Europe.

Fini admitted during his press conference with Shalom that it would be difficult for the EU, after having asked for a more active role in the region for so long, to turn one down when offered.

Israel and Palestinian Authority negotiators met late Tuesday evening with a team representing Quartet envoy James Wolfensohn to hammer out the details of the agreement.

The security cabinet agreed on a framework whereby Palestinians would be able to cross from Gaza into Egypt, and vice versa, through the Rafah crossing, which would be manned by PA, Egyptian and EU officials. Goods, however, would go through a terminal to be built at Kerem Shalom.

According to Israel's position, the Rafah crossing would only be for Palestinians with valid identification and certain VIPs.

Surveillance equipment is to be installed at the crossing to provide Israeli officials with pictures of who is entering and information regarding their identity.

Nevertheless, a number of outstanding issues, in addition to the role the EU contingent will play, need to be worked out. They include when the crossing point would open, whether EU monitors would be stationed at the crossing point for goods at Kerem Shalom, whether goods going to Egypt should be allowed to use the Rafah crossing and what types of surveillance equipment would be used.

Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres was charged with responsibility for working out the role of the monitors with the EU.

EU - start reading some stories how England behaved in the Mandate during the thirties and forties against the Jews.

Ronny Schnapp, Canberra, Australia: Sharon knows what he's doing even if no one else does. Now that Israel will have nothing physically to do with the terrorists' lair that is Gaza, let's hope that the next stage of disengagement is a disengagement of the Palestinians' reliance on Israeli sources of electricity, water, jobs and money.

Val Phillips, USA: Charles Applebaum seems to think Israel should just continue with the same old policies. Sharon was touted as the hardest of hardliners but he turned out to be a great visionary who is able to understand that changes are needed if Israel is to be secure. He understands that closing all the borders and killing Parisians terrorist and non-terrorist have not made Israel any safer and a new path must be found. That new path is the path of peace and not the same old path that Charles Applebaum and Benjamin Netanyahu seem to favor.

Charles Applebaum, Parsippany, NJ, USA: I don't understand what Sharon is doing. He seems to be giving in to everything anyone demands of Israel. The EU has always been hostile towards Israel, with anti-Semitism increasing daily in most European countries. Egypt, as I expected, merely stands by while Pals come and go as they please, assumingly bringing in all types of weapons and terrorists. Why does Israel continue to trust those openly hostile to its existence?

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apa...icle%2FShowFull

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Deal at Last

If this doesn't grab your attention, nothing will. This isn't just another foot in the door. This is the opening of the door. And, it's an event we students of Bible prophecy have been awaiting.

The late Rev. Martin Luther King was known for those words, "Peace at last! Peace at last!" I can't help but wonder if those are the thoughts in the mind of Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom as he shakes hands with the EU's Javier Solana.

When I encountered Javier Solana back in 1999, the EU's first High Representative, the first thing I did was see if Solana had a connection to the Middle East. That's because, if he didn't, there was no connection to Bible prophecy. As I wrote in my book, I found out he did. And, in a big way. Solana is the first name found on the Barcelona Declaration -- an agreement between the then 15 member states of the EU and 12 Mediterranean nations -- including Israel.

As I continued researching this man Solana. I found that he was tasked by the EU heads to create a civil and military capacity for the EU. But, instead of calling it an army, it was to be called a Rapid Reaction Force. That's because the forces were to be drawn from the member states when needed. If you want more details, I would encourage you to read my book. I have posted it for free at FulfilledProphecy.Com.

Back to today's attention grabbing news. Apparently, Israel has not only invited Solana's forces to enter Gaza and police the border crossings, Israel has authorized Solana the use of force (Read about it here)>>>> http://euobserver.com/9/20232

(And here)>>>> http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...ticle%2FPrinter

The timing too is fascination. November 10 will be the 10th anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration. If you've been following FulfilledProphecy, you are aware that Javier Solana is planning a grand celebration of his agreement. Not only that, Solana has promised some kind of surprise announcement. Could there be a deal at last?

Friends, this is getting good.

Stay tuned!

11-02-05

http://fulfilledprophecy.com/deal_at_last.html

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EU to highlight Turkish torture issue

01.11.2005 - 09:49 CET | By Andrew Rettman

Turkey must stop torture, allow freedom of worship and limit the powers of the military in the next two years if it is to join the EU by 2015, according to a draft European Commission proposal seen by the Financial Times.

The paper on "principles, priorities and conditions" of Turkish EU membership contains 150 short-term targets for Ankara and will be finalised later this month.

The draft says Ankara must have "zero tolerance" against torture, must "adopt a law comprehensively addressing all the difficulties faced by non-Muslim religious minorities and communities ...establish full parliamentary oversight of military and defence policy" and "ensure the independence of the judiciary".

The new document will be used to guide negotiations once they get fully under way in late 2006 or in 2007.

The EU has already begun screening Turkish legislation for compliance with European law in the field of science, culture and education after agreeing to start accession talks on 3 October.

The negotiating mandate is one of the toughest ever imposed on a candidate country, giving member states wide scope to use national vetos in closing any of the 35 chapters of the membership process.

The mandate also states the EU can suspend talks if it finds "a serious and persistent breach...of the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law".

Cultural revolution

The issue of European values is set to come to the fore in the accession process due to its strong impact on public opinion in both Europe and Turkey.

Earlier this month, French president Jacques Chirac caused a stir by saying the country will have to undergo a "major cultural revolution" in order to join the EU.

Reports indicate that public support for EU membership is waning in Turkey itself, while a Eurobarometer study in September showed that just 35 percent of Europeans back Turkish accession and 84 percent believe Turkey must "respect systematically human rights" to move ahead.

Turkey adopted a new penal code abolishing the death penalty in June this year and has been a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights since 1954.

But international human rights organisations continue to ask painful questions about the country's European credentials.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg upheld a ruling in May that the Kurdish minority leader Abdullah Ocalan was denied a free trial.

Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders are also worried about article 301 of the new penal code, which forbids insults against the "symbols of the state's sovereignty and the honour of its organs" and could be used to gag the press.

The trial in December of Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk over his open discussion of Turkey's Kurdish and Armenian massacres last century will thrust the European values debate into the spotlight as well.

http://euobserver.com/9/20225

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Israel wants EU to secure Gaza border

02.11.2005 - 09:59 CET | By Mark Beunderman

The EU has been set a major foreign policy challenge following a request by the Israeli government to monitor the Egyptian-Gaza border, with EU officials to have real enforcement capacities.

The Israeli inner cabinet, a circle of the most senior ministers, on Tuesday (1 November) voted to call upon EU inspectors to be engaged in monitoring the Rafah crossing between the Gaza strip and Egypt.

Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom said, according to Israeli daily Haaretz, "Our objective is for the Europeans to have enforcement capabilities in the field, and not just a symbolic presence".

Since Israel ended its occupation of the Gaza strip, it says the crossing is characterised by weapons smuggling and uncontrolled passage of terrorists, with Egyptian authorities unable to safeguard border security.

The Israelis, which have traditionally been wary of EU involvement in its relations with the Palestinians, have now for the first time turned their eyes to Brussels to play a concrete role in the Middle East peace process.

The Palestinian Authority supports the idea of the EU sending border observers, but it disagrees with Israel on the European mandate.

Ghassan Hatib, who leads the Palestinian team negotiating on the Rafah issue, said according to UK paper the Independent "The EU will be monitors. If they notice something is happening in violation of the agreements and the standards, then they will ask the Palestinians to correct things".

He added that the European role should be "confidence-building, not enforcing".

On top of this, the EU itself appears to be wary of engaging in a long-lasting presence of EU officials exposed to security threats.

According to Haaretz, EU diplomats said the EU is demanding a time limit to be placed on the mission, while seeking clear-cut reassurances from the Palestinian side that the team will not be attacked.

But Italian foreign minister Gianfranco Fini said that if the EU does not accept the mission, it would damage the bloc

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EU mission to evaluate role at crossing

By Yoav Stern

The European Union said yesterday it was sending senior officials to the Middle East to evaluate a possible role in helping monitor the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the EU's executive commission said it "stands ready to play its part" should Israel and the Palestinians both request an EU role on the border.

Top Israeli cabinet ministers on Tuesday approved a plan calling for EU officials to inspect travelers entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing.

If the plan is realized, it will mark the first time Israel has allowed the EU to play a major role in Israeli-Palestinian relations. The EU has long said it would be willing to help out on the border.

An EU mission could "play an important part in rebuilding confidence between the two parties, and helping to kickstart the Palestinian economy in Gaza," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Walder said.

Meanwhile, Spainish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos yesterday said Spain was studying the possibility of helping police the border.

Moratinos told a news conference that Spain was willing to support an international effort to promote peace in the region. Peace is "not only necessary, it's possible," he said.

"Spain, within the European Union, is prepared to contribute and that is why we are exploring the possibility of participating in border controls between Gaza and Egypt following an accord between Israelis, Palestinians and Egyptians," said Moratinos.

"Only with respect, and an understanding of differences between peoples, can we build a future with peace, freedom and progress," said Moratinos.

In brokering new arrangements for the Rafah crossing following the Israeli pullout from Gaza, U.S. mediator James Wolfensohn has tried to give Palestinians freedom of movement while also addressing Israel's concerns about a possible influx of weapons and militants into Gaza.

Israel and the Palestinians still disagree on the level of authority accorded to inspectors - the Palestinians consider them advisers, while the Israel wants them to have the power to veto entries should need arise.

Israel is also demanding that it receive information in real time from the border control authorities via cameras filming those who use the Rafah crossing, to which the Palestinians object.

However, security sources said Israeli and Palestinian negotiators made progress during a meeting Tuesday night on reopening the Rafah terminal.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/640993.html

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Friday, 4 November 2005, 14:13 GMT

French riots spread beyond Paris

The unrest has been spreading

The violence that has wracked Paris suburbs over the past week has spread to new areas and outside the French capital for the first time.

Youths burned buildings and more than 500 vehicles in the eighth consecutive night of rioting. Nearly 80 arrests were made in Paris.

Cars were torched in the eastern city of Dijon, and sporadic unrest broke out in southern and western France.

The unrest was sparked by the deaths of two teenagers of African origin.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has pledged to restore order following criticism of the government's failure to end violence.

Thursday night's incidents occurred in several towns to the north-east and west of the capital, including Aulnay-sous-Bois.

Most of the attacks took place in the largely immigrant area of Seine-Saint-Denis, where about 1,300 police had been deployed.

Gangs of attackers

As on previous nights, gangs of youths armed with bricks and sticks roamed the streets of housing estates. The situation had calmed down at dawn.

In the reported overnight incidents:

A 56-year-old disabled bus passenger suffers severe burns when a Molotov cocktail is thrown on board in the northern Sevran suburb

Shots are fired at riot police in various parts of Paris, slightly wounding five officers, police say

A group of officers is targeted near a synagogue in the Seine-Saint-Denis area of Stains, where a primary school is partially burned

Police say 519 vehicles were burned and 78 people held in the Paris region, in the worst night of riots so far

More than 100 firefighters fight a blaze at a carpet warehouse in Aulnay-sous-Bois; another warehouse is also set alight in Le Blanc Mesnil area

Twenty-seven buses are burned at Trappes depot in Yvelines, west of Paris

Outside Paris, as well as the cars set alight in Dijon, unrest flared in the Rouen area of Normandy and in the Bouches-du-Rhone region near Marseilles in the south.

The unrest began after teenagers Bouna Traore, aged 15, and Zyed Benna, 17, were accidentally electrocuted at an electricity sub-station in Clichy-sous-Bois.

Local people say they were fleeing police - a claim the authorities deny. Inquiries are under way.

'Troublemakers'

Amid reports of a cabinet split on the handling of the riots, Mr de Villepin has held talks with Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and other ministers, as well as MPs and mayors from affected towns.

Press searches for solutions

Mr Sarkozy had earlier sparked some criticism with hardline comments saying the government would not allow "troublemakers, a bunch of hoodlums, think they can do whatever they want".

The areas affected are poor, largely immigrant communities with high levels of unemployment.

Muslim leaders have urged politicians to show respect for immigrant communities.

Minister for Social Cohesion Jean-Louis Borloo said France had to acknowledge its failure to deal with anger simmering in poor suburbs for decades.

PARIS RIOTS

Clichy-sous-Bois: Two teenagers die in electricity sub-station on 27 October. Successive nights of rioting follow rumours they were fleeing police. A number of people arrested or injured.

Aulnay-sous-Bois: A flashpoint after violence spread from Clichy. Shots fired at police and cars and shops set ablaze. Further trouble in eight nearby suburbs, with more shots fired at police.

Elsewhere in Paris: Reports of incidents in towns in the suburban departments of the Val-d'Oise, Seine-et-Marne and Yvelines. Reports of petrol bombs thrown at a police station in the Hauts-de-Seine.

Elsewhere in France: Cars torched in the eastern city of Dijon. Sporadic trouble reported in areas close to Rouen and Marseilles.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/4405620.stm

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Thousand cars torched in latest French riots

Sun Nov 6, 2005 7:59 AM ET

By Elisabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) - Gangs of youths torched 1,300 vehicles overnight in the 10th consecutive night of violence in Paris's poor suburbs and major French towns, despite the deployment of thousands of extra police.

Cars were burned out in the historic center of Paris for the first time on Saturday night. In the normally quiet Normandy town of Evreux, a shopping mall, 50 vehicles, a post office and two schools went up in flames.

Authorities have so far found no way beyond appeals and more police to address a problem with complex social, economic and racial causes.

Evreux mayor Jean-Louis Debre, a confidant of President Jacques Chirac and speaker of the lower house of parliament, told France Info radio:

"To those responsible for the violence, I want to say: Be serious ... If you want to live in a fairer, more fraternal society, this is not how to go about it."

The deaths 10 days ago of two youths apparently fleeing police ignited pent up frustrations among young men, many of them Muslims of North and black African origin, at racism, unemployment, their marginal place in French society and their treatment by the police.

"Many youths have never seen their parents work and couldn't hold down a job if they got one," said Claude Chevallier, manager of a burned-out carpet depot in the rundown Paris suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois.

But authorities now say the rolling nightly riots are being organized via the Internet and mobile phones, and have pointed the finger at drug traffickers and Islamist militants.

Overnight, 1,295 vehicles were torched across France, the highest total so far, police said. An extra 2,300 officers have been drafted in.

Seven police helicopters buzzed over the Paris region through the night, filming disturbances and directing mobile squads to incidents. Overnight, police made 349 arrests.

The number of incidents in the Paris region was similar to the night before, but in the provinces it was up sharply.

TARNISHED IMAGE

The violence has tarnished France's image abroad, forcing Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to cancel a trip to Canada, while Russia and the United States have warned their citizens to avoid Paris's troubled suburbs.

Villepin has combined a call for an end to the riots with dialogue with community leaders, youngsters and local officials, and has promised an action plan for 750 tough neighborhoods.

"I'll make proposals as early as this week," the weekly Journal du Dimanche quoted him as saying.

But it remained unclear what could stop the violence, though some opposition parties have suggested a symbolic measure -- the resignation of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Accused of stoking passions by calling troublemakers "scum", Sarkozy has ignored calls to quit. A survey published on Sunday indicated his public image was holding up, even if many disapproved of his strong language.

Villepin also has ambitions to be the right wing's presidential candidate in 2007 and has tried to position himself as a much more consensual figure than Sarkozy; the effect on the crisis on his ratings is still unclear.

With no end in sight to the nights of wailing sirens, acrid smoke, stone-throwing and destruction, residents from all ethnic backgrounds are tiring of the unrest.

"My kids can't sleep at night," said a mother named Samia in Aulnay-sous-Bois. "They hear explosions, they see fires and they think they're in a war. When the slightest thing happens, they get anxious and say 'Mama, what's going on?'"

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle....RANCE-RIOTS.xml

[rollinTHUNDER]

French to Impose Curfews, Deploy Forces

By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 6 minutes ago

PARIS - France will impose curfews "wherever it is necessary" and call up 1,500 police reservists to stop rioting, the prime minister said Monday, as civil unrest erupted for a 12th night with youths setting fire to an empty bus and attacking police in Toulouse.

The announcement came as similar violence was reported in neighboring Belgium and Germany and the French government faced growing criticism for its inability to stop the violence in its tough suburbs. Governments worldwide urged their citizens to be careful in France.

A 61-year-old man also died Monday of wounds sustained in an attack as he tried to put out a trash can fire, the first fatality since the unrest began.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said 1,500 police and gendarme reservists were being called up to reinforce the 8,000 troops already deployed to stem the violence that has shocked the nation.

"The response is one of firmness," he said on TF1 television, adding that curfews will be allowed "wherever it is necessary."

Local government officials will be able to put curfews in place "if they think it will be useful to permit a return to calm and ensure the protection of residents. That is our number one responsibility," he said.

One riot-hit town in suburban Paris said earlier that it was preparing to enforce a curfew.

In Toulouse, rioters stopped a bus and ordered the driver to get out, then set the vehicle on fire, said Francis Soutric, chief of staff at the regional prefecture in Toulouse. No passengers were inside.

When riot police arrived on the scene, about 50 youths hurled firebombs and other objects at them. Police responded with tear gas, the official said. The clash was the first reported unrest Monday evening in France.

President Jacques Chirac, in private comments more conciliatory than his warnings Sunday that rioters would be caught and punished, acknowledged that France has failed to integrate the French-born children of Arab and black African immigrants in poor suburbs who have been participating in the violence, according to Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, who met with the French leader on Monday.

She said Chirac "deplored the fact that in these neighborhoods there is a ghettoization of youths of African or North African origin" and recognized "the incapacity of French society to fully accept them."

Chirac said unemployment runs as high as 40 percent in some suburban neighborhoods, four times the national rate of just under 10 percent, Vike-Freiberga said.

On Sunday night, vandals burned more than 1,400 vehicles, and clashes around the country left 36 police injured, setting a new high for overnight arson and violence since rioting started last month, national police chief Michel Gaudin told reporters.

Attacks overnight Sunday to Monday were reported in 274 towns and police made 395 arrests, Gaudin said. The Justice Ministry said Monday that 27 people had been convicted in fast-track trials since the beginning of the unrest.

Australia, Britain, Germany and Japan advised their citizens to exercise care in France, joining the United States, Russia and at least a half dozen other countries in warning tourists to stay away from violence-hit areas.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy sought to reassure his European counterparts about visiting his country, telling them at a meeting in Brussels that "France is not a dangerous country. France is still a country where one can go."

The victim was identified as Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, a retired auto industry worker who died after being beaten by an attacker. He was trying to extinguish a trash can fire Friday at his housing project in the northeastern suburb of Stains when an attacker caught him by surprise and beat him into a coma, police said.

In the Paris suburban town of Raincy, the mayor was preparing to enact a nighttime curfew expected to go into force Monday or Tuesday, said one of his top aides.

Apparent copycat attacks spread outside France for the first time, with five cars torched outside Brussels' main train station, police in the Belgian capital said.

German police were investigating whether the overnight burning of five cars early Monday in Moabit, a Berlin neighborhood with a large Turkish immigrant population, was a copycat crime.

The mayhem started as an outburst of anger in suburban Paris housing projects and has fanned out nationwide among disaffected youths, mostly of Muslim or African origin, to become France's worst civil unrest in more than a decade.

"This spread, with a sort of shock wave spreading across the country, shows up in the number of towns affected," Gaudin said, noting that the violence appeared to be sliding away from its flash point in the Parisian suburbs and worsening elsewhere.

It was the first time police had been injured by weapons' fire and there were signs that rioters were deliberately seeking out clashes with police, officials said.

The unrest began Oct. 27 in the low-income Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois after the deaths of two teenagers of Mauritanian and Tunisian origin. The youths were accidentally electrocuted as they hid from police in a power substation. They apparently thought they were being chased.

About 4,700 cars have been burned in France since the rioting began and 1,200 suspects were detained at least temporarily, Gaudin said.

The growing violence is forcing France to confront long-simmering anger in its suburbs, where many immigrants and their French-born children live on society's margins, struggling with high unemployment, racial discrimination and despair

[rollinTHUNDER]

French urban unrest hits new high

Sun Nov 6, 2005 9:17 AM ET

By Elisabeth Pineau and Brian Rohan

PARIS (Reuters) - Urban violence scaled new heights in France as gangs of youths torched cars, shops and firms in the 10th straight night of violence in poor suburbs of Paris and provincial towns, despite heavy police reinforcements.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was to meet police on Sunday afternoon and teachers from tough neighborhoods to discuss how to respond to youths who have defied all appeals for calm from top officials and exasperated residents.

Rioting started 10 days ago with the deaths of two youths apparently fleeing police. The deaths ignited pent up frustration among ethnic minorities over racism, unemployment, police treatment and their marginal place in French society.

The Socialist opposition chided the ruling conservatives over their law and order record and demanded President Jacques Chirac, who won re-election in 2002 on security issues but who has kept a low profile, speak out.

Residents in affected zones wept and vented their dismay.

"This is too much, stop! Stop, do something else, but not this, not violence," sobbed a woman in Evreux, a normally quiet Normandy town where a shopping mall, 50 vehicles, a post office and two schools were destroyed.

"My wife's out of a job now," fumed another resident. "I've two kids, a house to pay for and a car loan. What do I do now?"

Evreux mayor Jean-Louis Debre, a Chirac confidant who is speaker of the lower house of parliament, told reporters at the scene: "A hundred people have smashed everything and strewn desolation. Well, they don't form part of our universe."

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Authorities say the rolling nightly riots are being organized via the Internet and mobile phones, and have pointed the finger at drug traffickers and Islamist militants.

Across France, 1,300 vehicles went up in flames, with 32 cars destroyed in the city of Paris for the first time.

"Why would people do such a thing? You should go and ask them. Of course it's not normal -- it's pure vandalism," said one pensioner in the 17th district of Paris where the wrecks of six burnt-out cars sat surrounded by shards of glass.

Previously quiet towns like Dreux, to the west, and the western city of Nantes, were also affected.

Seven police helicopters buzzed over the Paris region through the night, filming disturbances and directing mobile squads to incidents. Police made 349 arrests and an extra 2,300 officers have been drafted in.

The violence has tarnished France's image abroad, forcing Villepin to cancel a trip to Canada, while Russia and the United States have warned their citizens to avoid troubled suburbs.

Authorities have so far found no way beyond appeals and more police to address a problem with complex social, economic and racial causes.

"Many youths have never seen their parents work and couldn't hold down a job if they got one," said Claude Chevallier, manager of a burned-out carpet depot in the rundown Paris suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois.

WHERE IS CHIRAC?

As the government continued to struggle for a response to the crisis, Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande said the riots were a failure of government policy and leadership.

"I want to hear Jacques Chirac today," Hollande told reporters. "Where is the president when such serious events are taking place?"

Villepin has consulted widely but has released no details to date of a promised action plan for 750 tough neighborhoods.

"I'll make proposals as early as this week," the weekly Journal du Dimanche quoted him as saying.

Communist and Green Party officials demanded one symbolic measure -- the resignation of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Accused of stoking passions by calling troublemakers "scum", Sarkozy has ignored calls to quit. A survey published on Sunday indicated his public image was holding up, even if many disapproved of his strong language.

Villepin also has ambitions to be the right wing's presidential candidate in 2007 and has tried to position himself as a much more consensual figure than Sarkozy. The effect on the crisis on his ratings is still unclear.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle....RANCE-RIOTS.xml