Facing fines? French workers, in masks representing politicians, attend a protest about pay.
(Philippe Wojazer /Reuters)Photos (1 of 1)
France: Why Sarkozy is handing out sobriety tests
Obligatory sobriety tests would be just the latest in a series of anticrime measures from the right-leaning government of President Nicolas Sarkozy.
By Susan Sachs | Correspondent 06.22.09
PARIS – Law and order in France is getting personal.
The French interior minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, wants the state to confiscate the cars of people who cause traffic accidents or accumulate tickets for speeding and drunken driving.
As part of a proposed law that is to be taken up by Parliament this month, judges would also have the option of forcing scofflaws to install an individual breath analyzers in their cars to show how much alcohol they have consumed. Those drivers would have to blow into a balloonlike gadget and get the machine’s all-clear before the engine would start.
Confiscation and obligatory sobriety tests would be just the latest in a series of anticrime measures from the right-leaning government of President Nicolas Sarkozy.
This spring, the French parliament adopted a tough government-proposed law against Internet piracy that would have subjected violators to a sort of personal cyberbanishment. It would have meant that people who illegally downloaded copyrighted music and movies would have their Internet service cut off automatically if they persisted after two warnings. The constitutional court, however, said the law went too far, and that judges, not the state, should mete out punishment to cyberpirates. The government plans to present an amendment of the law to Parliament.
Nor will the French be able to show up at street protests wearing just anything. Ms. Alliot-Marie has also said it should be a crime for demonstrators to cover their faces, as did the masked protesters who disrupted the NATO summit in April in the eastern French city of Strasbourg. “When you demonstrate, it’s for your ideas,” she said. “When you come hooded, it usually means you’ve got something else in mind.”
But would-be demonstrators immediately howled in protest.
An anti-nuclear power group complained that banning masks would amount to intimidation of legitimate dissent, such as its annual Chernobyl anniversary march where people wear white masks and white hazmat suits to “symbolize the anonymous victims of the atom.”
An organization representing students who work unpaid or lowly internships at French companies and others that generally cover up their faces for protests, such as opponents of genetically modified crops and globalization, are also up in arms.
<< Was Iran’s election stolen? New study makes a forceful case | MainComments
2. vonrock | 06.22.09
YES !!! I Hope it catches on in the US too, Hiding behind a mask has ALWAYS been an outlaw thing. and acting like an idiot on booze is no different. if you want to symbolize who and what you are be decent and respectful, isn’t that what everybody really wants? Im behind Decent People, aren’t you also ? Peace means just that Peace. Truth comes out with truth. it may take a while, but truth wins !
3. dom youngross | 06.22.09
You can see both points about masked protestors. The government doesn’t want to allow terrorists anonymity to carry out attacks. Protestors don’t want to be targeted for retribution after the protest.
The government however allowed a loophole. The French are artistic. Protestors will adopt face paint.
4. Tony | 06.22.09
Nicolas Sarkozy needs to stick with filling his pockets with his Boss-Hog corruption and leave social change to greater men and women within French society. The hypocrisy alone is enough to discredit not only Sarkozy, a man linked into the globalist elite through nefarious business connections and good old nepotism, but the entire nation of France starts to look a lot like the racist, intolerant, imperialistic, globalist slave master the United States.
What’s next? Unprovoked invasions of an oil rich country based upon manufactured intelligence?
Sarkozy = danger to the West and the freedom we as the people DO so much value.
5. JL (France) | 06.23.09
This is France, not Iran. Demonstrators who do not intend to be violent have no reason to cover their faces.
6. Decentralize | 06.23.09
What a sleaze-bag Sarkozy is. All he can come up with are new ways to restrict his citizens under the boot of an increasingly oppressive state. He’s the hammer of nanny-state government, and all the world’s problems look like nails to him. He’s got a knack for building up internal pressure in France, pitting groups of citizens against each-other rather than achieving any kind of consensus. Such a divisive personality has no place in leadership.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. Eldon Braun | 06.22.09
The ban on masks is not a good idea. The people who protest Scientology worldwide under the Anonymous banner have a legitimate concern about being harassed by the cult. Individuals are willing to identify themselves to the police in private, howeever. Maybe that’s a solution.