Le jour d'après - tour 2

CARS BURNED IN PARIS ON ELECTION EVE

PARIS May 6, 2007 (AFP) - More than 30 cars were set on fire in Paris during the night preceding Sunday's presidential election, police said. The figure of 34 was slightly higher than on the eve of the first round of the vote on April 22, they said. In addition unknown vandals overnight plugged the locks of several voting stations with glue.

FRENCH SUBURB BRACES FOR POSSIBLE SARKOZY WIN

ARGENTEUIL May 6, 2007 (AFP) - Aurelie Legrand, a 21-year-old student from the French island of La Reunion, said she voted for Royal to try to block a Sarkozy victory.

People say that if he wins there will be more violence so naturally it makes you think.

Ah, Mlle. Legrand, congratulations you got the message! Welcome to democracy à la français ! Don't fuss about the issues. Just keep your head down and a song in your heart.

SECURITY BEEFED UP TO AVERT FRENCH ELECTION VIOLENCE

PARIS May 6, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of French police, anti-riot units and gendarmes were on standby Sunday to quell any outbreak of violence that could be sparked by a presidential election victory for Nicolas Sarkozy.

ROYAL CONCEDES DEFEAT IN ELECTION
PARIS May 6, 2007 (AFP)

Ségo never mentions Sarko by name in her concession speech.

Le suffrage universel a parlé. Je souhaite au prochain président de la République d'accomplir sa mission au service de tous les Français.

[Universal suffrage has spoken. I wish for the next president of the Republic to accomplish his mission at the service of all the French .]

Hein? Ouais, ouais [Long painful pause.] félicitations. Forgot that bit. Yes, well, Ségo's smallness of spirit here corresponds with an uncharacteristic but welcome brevity.

PROTESTORS BURN SARKOZY EFFIGY IN PARIS SQUARE

PARIS May 6, 2007 (AFP) - The protestors, bearing black and red anarchist flags, set fire to the effigy on the Place de la Bastille before tearing it limb from limb and then stamping on it.

The burning came as about two thousand Royal supporters, who had gathered in the square to await the election results, stayed on to lament the Socialist candidate's defeat to the rightwinger.

VIOLENT PROTESTS GREET SARKOZY’S ELECTION IN FRANCE

PARIS May 7, 2007 (NYT) - Violent protests against the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as president of France ended early today with hundreds of people arrested, hundreds of cars gutted and hundreds of windows smashed in several cities across in France.

... Agence France-Presse, citing national police headquarters, reported that 730 cars had been set afire overnight, 35 in Paris, and that 592 people had been arrested, 79 in the capital. It said 78 police officers had been injured.

... Violence was reported in the southeastern city of Lyon and the southern city of Toulouse. Bus shelters were smashed in the northern city of Lille and a school was set on fire in the Paris suburb of Evry, Reuters reported. In the northern area around Lille, about 100 cars were reportedly set on fire.

Reuters also quoted the head of public security for the Loire-Atlantique as saying that 26 people were being held for questioning and six police officers were slightly injured during an anti-Sarkozy rally in Nantes. In the northern city of Caen, four police officers were hurt and some protesters tried to set a local Sarkozy campaign office on fire.

Is France's underclass rioting as Ségo gave fair warning if the vote didn't go her way?

Reuters quoted an internal police memo that said there had not been “any large demonstrations of urban violence in sensitive neighborhoods [scil., minority ghettos].”

In Paris, at least, the protesters were mostly white and below the age of 30, similar to the crowds who took to the streets last year to protest a new labor law.

These rioting youths have been identified. They are white college-age students. [Pause.] The privileged youth of France. The strongest constituency of the Parti Socialiste.

Another curious detail, all the news reports we've read refer to "protestors" but go on to describe them committing criminal acts resulting in arrests. The question this raises is just what is the point? Other than destroying property and disturbing the peace, we can't say. No one is contesting the ballot count. No one is challenging the voter rolls. No one is criticizing the conduct of the polling. No, the "protestors" are protesting that they lost at the ballot. Oh, boo HOO. Oh, boo HOO HOO.

What amazes us about the left -- the left everywhere -- is this sense of being owed. That they are owed their victories, but not their defeats. That electorates deserve and need and want -- when properly informed or seriously threatened -- victories of the left. That the other side should win is inherently wrong.

It is this inherent wrong that the above "protestors" seek to redress. Yes, yes, everything was by the book, but the result was wrong! Just let us take over until the electorate can be taught to vote correctly.

PFFT (What is this?): The faithful turn out to fulfill the Ségo prophecy 3 | Bad losers 3 | Sore losers 4 | Rayonnement français 0