FRANCE: President Jacques Chirac expressed his "sorrow and solidarity" for the victims of 18 days of rioting in a "solemn declaration" on French television last night.
Veering between sternness and compassion, Mr Chirac said: "Those who attack property and persons must know that in the republic, one does not violate the law without being apprehended, pursued and punished ... When one belongs to our national community, one respects the rules."
Mr Chirac devoted only one sentence of his 15-minute address to the three-month extension of the state of emergency, decided in a cabinet meeting yesterday. The 12-day state of emergency, declared on November 8th, cannot be prolonged without the approval of French lawmakers.
The draft law goes to the National Assembly and Senate today. Until mid-February, prefects will have the power to maintain curfews, order house searches and ban public meetings, a measure used at the weekend in Paris and Lyon. If civil peace returns to France, the government may cut the emergency period short.
"It is good fortune to belong to the French community," Mr Chirac said. "Everyone must be conscious of that and act accordingly."
He said the riots constituted "a crisis of meaning, a crisis of points of reference ... a crisis of identity". Violence, trafficking, mass unemployment and poor urban planning were "at the root of the events we have just lived through," he added.
The most innovative measure announced by Mr Chirac was the creation of a volunteer civil service to provide supervision and training for 50,000 young people from 2007.
The French president rejected the idea of "positive discrimination" proposed by the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy.
"There is no question of entering into the logic of quotas, which single out those who benefit from them and are unjust for those who are not entitled to them," he said.
"It is a question of giving all youths the same chances for employment."
A much-violated law requiring all towns and cities to build at least 20 per cent low-income housing must be respected, Mr Chirac said. "I am aware of the difficulties. But we will not get out of the present situation if our actions are not consistent with our words."
The president said he will meet with the heads of television networks and political parties in the hope that French media and politics - notable for the absence of people of Arab and African origin - will "better reflect French reality today".
Earlier yesterday, Michel Gaudin, the chief of national police, gave his last daily press briefing on the crisis. "It has become a local problem," an aide explained.
There were, nonetheless, 284 cars burned overnight on Saturday and 115 arrests made. Though violence continued in 120 towns and cities, Mr Gaudin stressed there were only 10 places where more than five vehicles were burned. Five policemen were injured, bringing the total to 140 in 18 nights of rioting. Two of the policemen suffered serious injuries when a burning rubbish bin exploded.
Special regional intervention groups of undercover agents, judiciary, police and financial experts were already carrying out eight operations across France against "the underground economy" and "trafficking", Mr Gaudin said.
Meanwhile, Georges Tron, a right-wing deputy and the mayor of Draveil, south of Paris, announced his town would cut assistance to any family with a member convicted of participating in the riots.