Prometheus 6

Sarkozy Says Riots Were 'Thugocracy,' Not a Social Crisis
By Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 30, 2007; A17

PARIS, Nov. 29 -- President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday blamed this week's rioting in the Paris suburbs on "thugocracy" and said the violence would not be rewarded by dumping taxpayers' money into the troubled neighborhoods.

"I reject the kind of naive, wishful thinking that makes every delinquent a victim of society and every riot a social problem," Sarkozy said. "What happened in Villiers-le-Bel has nothing to do with a social crisis and everything to do with thugocracy.

"The correct answer to riots is not more taxpayers' money," he said in a speech to hundreds of police officers at a conference. "The correct response is to arrest the rioters."