Failed Policies, Marginalization Sparked Riots: Jose Bove

"Riots have nothing to do with Muslims, Arabs or African immigrants as propagated by the media," Jose Bove told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, November8 .

"The unrest has its roots in decade-old failed social policies to improve the situation in France's poor suburbs."

The government declared Tuesday a state of emergency in riot-hit parts in order to combat the worst outbreak of urban unrest since the May1968 student revolt.

Meeting in crisis session under the chairmanship of President Jacques Chirac, the cabinet invoked a 50 year-old law originally drawn up at the start of the Algerian war which permits the declaration of curfews, house-searches and a ban on public meetings.

The measure will come into effect at midnight after the government has issued a decree setting out the geographical limits for the state of emergency.

Nearly two weeks of rioting in the country's high-immigration suburbs has left more than6 , 000cars burned, public and private property destroyed, tens of policemen injured and one civilian death.

More than1 , 500people -- mainly Arab and black youngsters -- have been detained.

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

Government Blamed

Bove, a farmer and unionist, blamed the unrest on social and economic marginalization of the African and Muslim immigrants in the European country.

"There will be no solution to the crisis in the near future unless the government changes its policies toward marginalized immigrants," he added.

The activist urged the French parliament to debate the root causes of crisis, describing the unrest as "a revolution by desperate youths who have lost all hopes."

Muslim thinker Tareq Ramadan blamed the entire political class in France for the riots, saying the political class has been "blind" to what has been happening in the suburbs, with their unemployed youth of Arab and African origin and bleak high-rises.

Bove also asked Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to apologize for his anti-immigrant remarks.

The interior minister has been under fire for his "zero-tolerance" policy, which caused violence in the areas.

The French Communist Party, the Greens and the Socialist Party have joined forces, demanding the sacking of Sarkozy over his handling of the crisis.

He has been accused of stoking passions by calling troublemakers "racaille" or rabble, and saying that crime-ridden areas need to be "cleaned with a power-hose."

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