Imbéciles aveugles!

Reuters: French deputies vote to extend state of emergency---

PARIS (AFP) - French deputies approved legislation for a three-month extension of its state of emergency, despite the country's gradual return to normal after nearly three weeks of suburban unrest.

The vote in the National Assembly was 346 in favor to 148 against, with four abstentions.

The measure still needs the approval of the upper house, the Senate, which is due to take up the issue on Wednesday afternoon.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told the lawmakers before the vote that the extension was necessary because "even though there appears to be a progressive return to calm, nothing has been definitively achieved."

Introduced a week ago under a little-used 1955 law, the state of emergency allows authorities to impose curfews, order house arrests and searches, and ban public gatherings. After the initial 12 days it had to be renewed by an act of parliament.

However, the political left expressed opposition to extending the special powers, saying it was no longer needed since calm had largely returned to the country's high-immigration suburbs.

On Monday night the violence was at its lowest point since near the start of the disturbances on October 27, with 215 cars burned and 71 people arrested.

Chirac, who was criticised for appearing to take a back seat in the crisis, made his first public address Monday evening -- telling television viewers that the violence would be punished but conceding that many in Arab and black communities suffered the "poison" of discrimination.

Telling inhabitants of stricken neighbourhoods that "they are all sons and daughters of the republic," he said it was time "to take on board the diversity of French society" and announced a new employment scheme for 50,000 youngsters in the army and other government agencies.

Chirac is still blind to the truth. Putting a bandaid on isn't going to stop the Muslim hatred of all things West and free. The French already tried that and they got riots for their pains.