Ambassador Says France

Ambassador Says France 'Back to Normal'

By BARRY SCHWEID
The Associated Press
Monday, November 21, 2005; 2:50 PM

WASHINGTON -- The violence that swept predominantly Muslim communities in some 300 cities and towns in France for three weeks has abated and "we are back to normal," French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte said Monday. He said mostly teenagers had acted out of social and economic hardship. "It was not about the role of Islam in France," he said.

"We never saw any link, direct or indirect," the French diplomat said. "Religion played no role."

"We know that jihadists are recruiting teenagers, but this has nothing to do with the general unrest in those neighborhoods," he said. The teenagers want to be considered 100 percent French, he said. "They want full equality."

Levitte also suggested "the word 'riot' is a bit too strong" to describe the disturbances and that while thousands of automobiles were destroyed and scores of police officers injured, there were only a handful of fatalities, in contrast to the 1992 Los Angeles riots that left 55 people dead and $1 billion in property damage.

The French have invoked those riots in the past, by way of criticizing U.S. policies. In 1992, then President Francois Mitterrand suggested that France would avoid such strife because of its generous social programs.

Levitte said that with job programs, scholarships and improved housing, the French government is engaged in trying to improve their living conditions. He spoke at a forum sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).

Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR, said the outbreak was a signal that discrimination has to be fought at all levels. He called on the French government to show the young Muslims that "society is with them, not against them."

Salam al-Marayati, executive director of MPAC, said "people want to live the French dream, the American dream, not the French nightmare."

"We are not immigrants anymore," he said. "We are second, third and fourth generation."

But the Muslims in Europe are not regarded as full-fledged Europeans, he said.

And while "we agree that this is not a religious conflict," al-Qaida and other groups can exploit these people if their social and political situations are not improved, he said.