France
Recent stories
Sarkozy visits Africa amidst accusations of racism
The African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence has called Sarkozy's visit to Mali in May to discuss immigration, development and Africa-related policies, a 'provocation' describing the new immigration law as 'fundamentally racist'.
18 May 2006 (146 words)
Campaign against disposable immigration formed
On May 13, thousands of people demonstrated in Paris against 'disposable immigration'.
17 May 2006 (156 words)
Foreign marriages and the 'riots'
Since the urban disturbances of November and December 2005, the government has brought in laws that make it more difficult to bring in foreign partners from abroad.
12 May 2006 (247 words)
New legislation hinders Muslim integration
Fouad Alaoui, vice-president of The Union of Islamic Organisations in France, says that new legislation targets Muslims in general and he predicts that, in the run up to the 2007 presidential elections, things will get worse for Muslims.
8 May 2006 (77 words)
Immigration reform promotes 'selective immigration'
New immigration legislation, passed by the parliamentary lower house in May, though subjected to 400 amendments, is aimed at encouraging the selective migration of skilled immigrants while tightening the rules for existing immigrants to bring in foreign partners and family members.
8 May 2006 (218 words)
Sarkozy says that immigration law will combat racism
In an interview in Le Monde, the interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy has said that the new immigration law will help combat racism by ensuring that immigrants are better integrated.
27 April 2006 (115 words)
An introduction to 'France inflamed: riots and reactions'
The recent uprisings across France in October and November 2005 saw anger on unprecedented levels among the residents of the deprived banlieues (suburban ghettoes) on the outskirts of towns and cities, where many of France's ethnic minorities live. The anger was ignited after two teenagers of African origin - Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré - were electrocuted and died while taking refuge in an electricity substation in Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis) on 27 October. Their friend, Muhittin Altun, was severely injured.
23 February 2006 (849 words)
Muslim station broadcasts banned
The Council of State has banned broadcasts by al-Manar (the lighthouse) following complaints from within the Jewish community.
18 December 2004 (117 words)
Action plan to promote tolerance and social cohesion
The secretary general of the High Council on Integration has delivered a plan of action and a report on civic responsibility for achieving social cohesion.
18 December 2004 (177 words)
Chirac attacker jailed
Maxime Brunerie, 27, a neo-Nazi sympathiser who took a shot at President Chirac during France's Bastille Day parade two years ago, has been sentenced to ten years in prison.
13 December 2004 (62 words)
Reports from Corsica
* Antiterrorist judge Thiel placed six youths aged 19-21 under suspicion of 'criminal association, bomb attacks and breach of weapons legislation'.
11 December 2004 (354 words)
Villepin announces plans to build a French Islam
Courses at two Paris campuses and intensive language classes will be made available to Muslim prayer leaders so as to train them in French law, civics, history and culture as from Autumn 2005 in a bid to build a moderate 'French Islam' that respects human rights and the Republican code, according to the interior minister.
10 December 2004 (158 words)
Foreigners victims of police violence
According to a report from the Citoyens Justice Police (which includes LDH, MRAP and the lawyers' and magistrates' unions) the vast majority of victims of police violence would appear to be foreigners.
4 December 2004 (151 words)
PS demands that the government acts
The story began at the beginning of June when the Socialist Party (PS) demanded that interior minister de Villepin should assume his responsibilities and arrest those behind an anti-Semitic attack on a rabbi's son in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine) and racist graffiti scrawled on the house of a Strasbourg imam.
1 December 2004 (58 words)
Giscard d'Estaing backs call for 'privileged partnership' with Turkey
The chief architect of the European Constitution, Valery Giscard d'Estaing has joined those calling for a 'privileged partnership' for Turkey as opposed to full EU membership.
28 November 2004 (102 words)
Reports say France has failed its immigrants
Two reports, one by the auditors' court and one by business leaders, say that more active measures are needed to help to integrate the millions of Arab and African immigrants who have settled in France since the 1960s.
26 November 2004 (125 words)
Lyons: anti-fascist injured
After a confrontation between the far-right Bloc Identitaire and 150 anti-fascists at the Place des Jacobins in Lyons, an antifascist ended up in hospital after being attacked.
17 November 2004 (52 words)
Grenade left near Paris synagogue
The Paris crime squad was hunting for the man who left a grenade near the Rosny-sous-Bois synagogue on 5 November.
13 November 2004 (41 words)
Sikh schoolboys expelled
Three Sikh students aged 14, 17, and 18, have been expelled from Elysée Louise Michel in Bobigny, north-east of Paris because of the turban ban - under the new dispensation banning religious insignia in schools.
10 November 2004 (112 words)
Alsace: Chirac orders crackdown after Jewish cemetery attacked
An attack at the Brumath cemetery, ten miles north of Strasbourg in Alsace, where racist slogans were daubed and over one hundred gravestones defaced on 31 October, brought condemnation from President Chirac.
8 November 2004 (60 words)
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