When France's violent youth started attacking the forces of law and order with gunfire as well as molotov cocktails and rains of stones, the government realized that drastic situations require drastic solutions.

There have now been several mobilizations of hundreds of police -- on one occasion a force of one thousand troops -- sent into the no-go zones to apprehend the worst of the thugs terrorizing these besieged neighborhoods.

I hope the law-abiding residents of these troubled communities are finally getting the peace that they deserve... but how peacefully can anyone sleep in France, when it takes a veritable army to maintain civility on their streets?

President Sarkozy campaigned as a "law and order" candidate... will his cure prove worse than the disease? (less info)