France's president promises to concentrate all efforts on the latest President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to concentrate all efforts on the incident that took place on New Year's Eve and said that he had asked authorities to be "uncompromising" with vehicle arsonists. He also added that those caught burning other people's cars should lose their own licenses until the damage had been paid for. "There is no reason why honest people should have to pay the consequences of the behavior of delinquents," he said in an address to emergency service staff who were on duty on Dec. 31, Reuters reported.
"Uncompromising" to me suggests maybe they should meet Dr. Guilletine's namesake, not that they should lose their drivers' licenses. But that's probably just me.
Authorities said 1,147 cars were burned on Dec. 31, which is an increase of 878 compared to the previous year. Taking into account a regional breakdown, the Seine-Saint-Denis region near Paris was the most heavily affected.
This year, about 35,000 police were mobilized on New Year's Eve, 7,000 more than last year while officials were also on guard against possible attacks after five sticks of dynamite were left in a Paris department store just before Christmas. According to police figures, 288 arrests were made this year compared to 259 last year and the interior ministry said that New Year's Eve had passed relatively calmly.