Only in America? Can't happen in Welfare Country?
French face summer of ghetto gang wars
By Philip Jacobson in Paris
A WAVE of violence among street gangs in France's bleak suburban ghettos
is putting pressure on its Socialist government to adopt "zero
tolerance" policing methods.
With one month to go before the World Cup, a flurry of killings has
shocked the nation and raised fears that, without swift action, the
feuding will spill over into the long summer holidays.
The French Interior Minister, Jean-Pierre ChevŠnement, has given a
warning that the clashes reflect a deepening "culture of hatred". He
faces increasing demands for measures similar to New York's pioneer
crackdown.
The latest figures show that violent incidents involving teenagers are
becoming increasingly common - and more deadly. Fatal shootings have
more than doubled over the past five years, with pump-action shotguns
responsible for most of the carnage.
Since March, youths wielding fusil … pompe - usually with barrel and
stock cut down for easy concealment - have killed at least four people.
The most recent victims died on the same day earlier this month: one was
blasted in the back at close range in an eastern suburb of Paris after
trespassing on another gang's turf to retrieve a stolen moped; the other
was shot repeatedly after an argument over a girl in an outlying area of
Marseille. Last week also saw a silent march in memory of 17-year-old
Jean-Michel T‚hou‚ through Aulnay-sous-Bois, north of Paris, where a
high proportion of inhabitants from Francophone Africa live in grim
tower blocks.
T‚hou‚ was beaten to death by a pack of youths who attacked him at
random after a leather jacket had been stolen from one of their gang by
someone living on his part of the estate.
"They fell on Jean-Michel like a pack of wild animals and he never stood
a chance," said his uncle, Patrice, while friends laid flowers at the
gate of the school he had attended. "It was a public lynching."
As Lionel Jospin, the French Prime Minister, conveyed his condolences to
T‚hou‚'s family, a boy of 12 was among four suspects (none over 18)
being questioned about the murder.
For one veteran police officer with long experience of working in the
quartiers sensibles - sensitive areas - around Paris, the recent
killings are part of a frightening trend among France's most
disadvantaged young people.
"They will tell you quite openly that there's nothing to live for, no
chance of getting out of their lousy apartments, no hope of finding a
decent job and settling down," he said. "All that's left is drugs and
crime and running with friends in the local bande."
Flick-knives and baseball bats are the weapons most often found on gang
members picked up in the street, the officer said, but firearms are on
the increase. "After all, you only need an ID card to walk out of a
hunting shop with a pump-action under your arm, and nobody uses one of
those things just for potting rabbits."
These days, too, it is not only clashes between gangs that worry the
French authorities. Police report that toughs from the outlying suburbs
are taking their guns - often concealed in a sports bag - when they head
into the city centres. The other day a youth was shot and wounded
outside the Palais-Royal, in the heart of Paris's tourist district.
Random attacks by youths on public-sector workers such as bus drivers
and refuse collectors are also more frequent.
"Anybody remotely associated with authority provides a target for the
brick-throwers," one social worker said. It would be wrong to attribute
this solely to gang members, he added. "You meet a tremendous amount of
anger everywhere you go in these neglected slums."
Under strong pressure from the conservative opposition, M ChevŠnement is
considering giving police broader powers of "stop and search" and will
review France's gun laws. There has long been concern about weapons
being too easily accessible to children whose parents belong to shooting
clubs. Legislation modelled on measures that Britain introduced after
the Dunblane murders could be rushed through parliament.
Yet while the French economy remains so depressed, driving youth
unemployment in the suburbs most afflicted by gangs well above 50 per
cent, the violence seems certain to continue.
As a psychotherapist who works with the children of the ghettoes points
out, the pressure has been building for years, but nobody in authority
took much notice. "A society that leaves its children without any real
prospects when they become adolescents is storing up trouble for
itself," Charles Rojzman said in Le Monde. "The violence is going to get
worse, because it is now affecting kids of no more than eight, 10 or 12
years old." |
