Quiet Night in French City Where Riots Occurred

Thanks to a heavy presence of police in Amiens, it was ensured that no repeat in violence and destruction would take place in the north of France Tuesday night. Earlier French President Francois Hollande had pledged to stamp out all of the unrest.

This is the first major test of law and order for Hollande since he became president. He sent the country’s interior minister to the city on Tuesday to complete a full investigation over the two nights of violent disturbances that caused injury to 17 police officers.

Over 100 extra police were sent to the northern part of the city on Tuesday. That brought the total to over 250 police in the city that are patrolling the entire district. That is in contrast to the 30 officers who are usually on duty.

Over the last decade, France has periodically been prone to riots and unrest in the neighborhoods that are run down and circle most of the big cities in the country. However, no evidence of any copycat violence was taking place in other major cities.

The violence was thought to have been started due to a police spot check Sunday at a memorial for a man who had died in a car accident. Some of the people at the memorial claimed the police were heavy handed and that provoked the disturbances.

The people in the neighborhood said that police treated them as if they were dogs. They complained that they vote and pay taxes but they are treated for the most part like dogs.

In 2005, rioting went on for weeks and was the worst in 40 years in France. That led a short-lived state of emergency imposed by the government. Other disturbances of large proportions took place in 2007 and again in 2010.