Tension high in Paris after weekend riots

Tensions remained high Monday in a handful of Paris suburbs after a weekend of rioting which erupted after police sought, last Thursday, to enforce a law banning the wearing of Niqab or full Muslim veil in public, security and media reports said. The law was passed more than two years ago and enforcement has been sporadic but growing around the country, particularly in areas that have immigrant, Muslim populations. In the relatively-deprived suburb of Trappes, to the southwest of the capital, rioters attacked the local police station and burned cars and damaged businesses and some public buildings throughout Friday night to protest alleged heavy-handed and improper police intervention against a woman wearing a Niqab. The woman's husband, according to police, reacted violently to the identity check and the attempt to fine the woman and is being charged with assault. As of April 2011, women wearing the Niqab or Burka could be fined up to USD 200 for violating the dress code law. There have been several hundred warnings and fines handed out in the past two years, the General Directorate of the National Police indicated. Friday's clashes led to several arrests in Trappes and four people are to appear in court Monday under accelerated procedures and they could face immediate jail terms. Close to 300 youths, many of them minors, took to the streets and clashed with police in Trappes and later in Montigny, Guyancourt, and other suburbs this past weekend. There is a growing realization that these poor areas, with high unemployment and few facilities visible in other suburbs of Paris, are tinder boxes waiting for a spark. A youth worker from Trappes, speaking on "France Info" radio on Monday, said that efforts were being made by social workers to calm down what were essentially minors protesting, noting the problem is not about the Niqab, it is about jobs and prospects and living conditions. French Interior Minister Manuel Valls is taking a firm line with the riots, saying on French television that reinforcements of riot police would remain in Trappes as long as they are needed. French authorities are cautious, nonetheless, not to ignite a ritual of clashes in these poorer suburbs and replicate the events of 2005, when police and rioters clashed every night for three solid weeks, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and leaving several areas resembling battlefields. Police were forced to invoke curfews and a state-of-emergency at that time to quell protests after two teenagers died in an accident while being pursued by police. Extremely hot temperatures in France at this time are also likely to contribute to nervousness and quick-tempered reactions. Temperatures in Paris, Monday, are expected to hit 35 Celsius and only start cooling down later on Tuesday.