Party Hearty

It seems that the young among the Maghrebiens, designated social outliers in French society, and socially useful as a magnet for both public pity and bigotry, have learned well from the natives by being both violent and politically venal.

In Colmar, an Alsacian tourist trap town easily confused with a cheesy cuckoo clock, the incumbent mayor had a close-rum election win overturned after it was discovered that at the last minute he had approved the long debated construction permit of a large mosque for the sake of getting the 146 votes that it took to put him over the top.

The administrative court in Strasbourg annulled the municipal elections of Colmar, stating that the outgoing mayor, Gilbert Meyer (UMP), had exerted "pressure [ED.: vote-buying] on part of the electorate" before his victory over his opponent Roland Wagner.

Mr. Meyer has exerted such pressure by committing to submit to the City Council a proposal for a grant to build a second mosque in Colmar in a letter to the Imam Daoudi Bachir, president of the cultural association of Muslim Maghreb, a estimated the court.

This promise was only relayed to the faithful, but the opponent of Mr. Meyer was able to take a position on the subject, noted the administrative judges.

They also felt that the "hasty implementation" of work that led to organize a sports event on the eve of the second round of municipal elections and the presence at the event of Mr. Meyer "that day "were designed to influence voters in the district that would benefit from it."

The constituents will be pleased to learn that in America, they call that “pork”.

Elsewhere, in this season of peace of the only religion that’s still practiced to any degree on the postmodern continent, police in Lyon are for the eighth year in a row have called out riot police because adherents are celebrating the end of Ramadan, Eid el Fitr, by getting violent.

The most serious took place between 18 hours and 19 hours between the rue de la République and rue de l'Arbre Sec in the 1st district of Lyon. A group of about ten people were arrested, including minors, for violence or rock throwing. Fights and tension, also impacting fleeing bystanders, the incidents have taken place mainly in the Presqu’île (peninsula) area of the city.

Around 4 in the afternoon, a pregnant woman aged 25 was stopped near Rue Ferrandiere, when she tried to cross the district while a brawl broke out between dozens of young people. "Her car has been shaken. She then received insults, had projectiles thrown at her, and was spat upon. "I was very scared, incredibly shocked to find myself in danger in the heart of Lyon, I have the sentence for the Muslim community when I see it" reflected the young woman who was finally helped by bystanders and a police patrol.

As every year for eight years at this time, police had set up a very important mechanism for maintaining public order, with a company of CRS police reservists and a company of mobile gendarmerie. The police were present in large numbers at Place Bellecour and around the commercial center of the Part-Dieu where the situation had seriously degenerated several years ago.

Peace out, people!