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| quote: | Originally posted by Q5echo
as of yesterday evening almost 600 people have been arrested, over 700 autos have been set on fire and 28 police officers have been injured. |
There're also -ve reactions 
mms://video.france24.com.edgestream...S UPDA1_400.wmv
After Royal's defeat, what do Socialists do?
With Ségolène Royal's defeat, the French Socialist Party has suffered a huge blow. What now? (Report: Emilie Boyer King)
| quote: | Sunday, May 6, 2007
European press note sea-change in politics
By AFP
BERLIN, May 7, 2007 (AFP) -European newspapers hailed Monday a sea-change in French politics with the victory of right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy in the presidential election on a programme of tough economic and social reform.
There were few words of regret that outgoing President Jacques Chirac was making way for a "strongman" like Sarkozy, who defeated his Socialist rival Segolene Royal in the runoff vote on Sunday.
"Not only France but also the Europeans expect that Sarkozy will make up for lost ground," wrote the centre-left German daily Berliner Zeitung in reference to Chirac's 12 years in office.
"France has opted for radical renewal," wrote the German economic daily Handelsblatt. "After 12 years of Jacques Chirac, the weakest president of the Fifth Republic, a new strongman has arrived at the Elysee."
The Financial Times Deutschland wrote that "Sarkozy and Royal both wanted to draw a line under the Chirac era: the change of political generation, the triumph of a new type of politics, was already underway in France before voters chose Nicolas Sarkozy."
Some commentators warned of trouble ahead for Sarkozy, who has promised a get-tough approach to law and order and fanned riots in high-immigrant suburbs in 2005 with remarks about clearing the "rabble" off the streets.
"Sarkozy has become the president of a polarised France," said the leftist Dutch paper De Volkskrant, while La Tribune de Geneve warned that "the French are quick to take to the streets" if their leadership fails them.
The left-wing Frankfurter Rundschau daily in Germany said French voters, "weakened by a real crisis of identity, preferred a regime of fear with Nicolas Sarkozy above long-term reform with ... Segolene Royal."
Some editorials predicted the French left would struggle to recover before legislative elections in June, but warned Sarkozy to temper his victory celebrations or risk a backlash from voters next month.
In Geneva, Le Temps website saw "dark days" ahead for the French Socialist Party, which suffered its third straight election defeat on Sunday.
"For Segolene Royal, the blow is terrible," it said. "The magnitude of the defeat suggests difficult days for the left.
"Where will they turn -- to the centre or to the extreme left -- to avoid another rout in the legislative elections in June?"
But for other observers the real question was whether Sarkozy could make good on his promises to reduce unemployment, especially among the young, and create a more competitive France through a liberal economic reform agenda.
"The new president of France must liberate the country from protectionism and the debt trap," wrote Austria's Die Presse. "Unemployment among the young and poverty among immigrants call out for an urgent solution." |
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"Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians."
Charles de Gaulle
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I hate on all races and religions.. 
