Crackdown not to settle Paris crisis - Paper

Islamic Republic News Agency:

A morning daily Tuesday commented on the ongoing unrest in France stressing that cracking down is not solution to the problem.

Referring to Paris riot as a "highly unusual development", 'Iran News' quoted European analysts as describing it as "one of the most serious political-security crises a western democracy has faced in years".

It all started after two black Muslim youths from an immigrant community in a Paris suburb were shot to death by policemen, it said.

"The disturbances deepened after the provocative statements of French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy who branded the rioters as 'thugs', 'criminals' and 'hooligans' who should be dealt with severely", the article added.

Noting that France is home to the largest immigrant population in Europe, with most of the more than five million immigrants coming from the Middle East and North Africa, it said, "The mainstream population in Europe has gradually become hostile to immigrants." The editorial further quoted critics as saying that the West treated its immigrants as second-class citizens and tried to assimilate them into western society without due respect to their culture and religion.

Stressing that resorts to the stick in dealing with the rioters would only deepen the crisis, Iran News suggested that the solution lies in recognizing the immigrants' civil and individual rights; stopping discrimination against them; treating them as first-class European citizens; and heeding their rightful demands.

"Otherwise, Paris could soon look like the Beirut of the 1980s and Sarajevo of the 1990s," the paper warned. READ MORE