Why Le Pen Gets Attention in France
Le Pen says the perfectly obvious things that all the other candidates refuse to say. Here’s just one example:
Le Pen sees immigration problem in subway riot
SAINT-CLOUD, France, March 30, 2007 (AFP) - French far-right presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen charged Friday that a riot in a Paris train station this week showed French cities had become unstable due to “mass immigration”.
About 100 youths rioted for more than seven hours on Tuesday at the Gare du Nord station after police arrested a fare-dodger, reviving memories of the three weeks of suburbun unrest that exploded across the nation in late 2005.
“This shows that the situation is unstable” in French urban areas, Le Pen told a media conference with the foreign press corps. “The cause is obviously, on the one hand, mass immigration, and all of the problems that this entails: problems at school, unemployment, housing etc,” he argued.
When a country has 751 police no-go zones, what Le Pen is saying really isn’t disputable. Even those who despise Le Pen must be wondering why the other candidates won’t even acknowledge the problem. The only explanation is if those candidates recognize it, they’re going to have to say what they’ll do about it — and they haven’t a clue.
Point taken, but le Gare du Nord is not one of these no-go zones. As a matter of fact, it is constantly patrolled by the French military. One of my favorite memories of Paris was when I got off the Eurostar from London and watched a soldier break up a fight between two bums. When facing automatic weapons, crazy homeless people suddenly become uncrazy. It’s a strange phenomenon.
Comment by Kevin — April 6, 2007 @ 12:35 pm
#1, good points.
Comment by TBlumer — April 6, 2007 @ 12:57 pm