“Our Strategy is the Right One”

Since a few days ago, a band of faithless and lawless
individuals have not hesitated to shoot real bullets at
the representatives of the Republic, loot, steal and set
schools on fire. A man was killed in front of his family
and a disabled woman trapped on a bus, doused with
gasoline and burnt. In the face of such a wave of
violence, it is necessary to avoid political infiltration
and show insight. What is threatened is civil peace, the
republican order and the life of our fellow citizens.
The strategy used by this government since four years
ago is the right one: the only possible one. The previous
policy, which was too soft, caused an explosion of crimes
and offences. Our approach caused the dramatic lessening
of the number of crimes. Learning nothing from their
consecutive failures or from that vast movement of popular
indignation that ended on April 21, 2002, the socialists,
who were responsible for our security, still persist in
their mistake. I advocate a closer policing but only if it
does not replace investigators and interrogators –
everyone to his own business. Mediators exist for
dialogue; the forces of law and order have been devised
first of all to stop criminals. This may be the real
change and the origin of all current clashes. We won’t
tolerate any more “no go” zones where organized crime and
mobster trafficking reign as the sole master. We will
restore order in those territories that have been left in
neglect.
My name is booed by the bands terrorizing the
neighborhoods. I don’t care. That’s normal. I’d be
bewildered if they did otherwise. Although criminals and
bandits obviously don’t support our security policy, the
French people do because we offer more protection to the
victims.