France in flames

[sinkov]

We were talking cricket.

No you weren't, 'going back to sport hardly any black managers in the English game'.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

No you weren't, 'going back to sport hardly any black managers in the English game'.

Lily white test team must mean cricket-surely?
?

[sinkov]

Lily white test team must mean cricket-surely?
?

So why mention sport and black managers, it's a common whinge that there aren't enough black managers in the game, meaning football, so why pretend you weren't meaning football ?

[The Bedlington Terrier]

So why mention sport and black managers, it's a common whinge that there aren't enough black managers in the game, meaning football, so why pretend you weren't meaning football ?

You bring a whole new meaning to pedantic Sinkov.

[sinkov]

You bring a whole new meaning to pedantic Sinkov.

You said there were hardly any black managers in the game, implying it was racism, I was simply pointing out that the England squad was thronged with black players, what's pedantic about that ?

[The Bedlington Terrier]

You said there were hardly any black managers in the game, implying it was racism, I was simply pointing out that the England squad was thronged with black players, what's pedantic about that ?

England cricket seems to accept that it is a racist endeavour but obviously you know better mon ami.

[sinkov]

England cricket seems to accept that it is a racist endeavour but obviously you know better mon ami.

I've never mentioned cricket.

[sinkov]

Not a lot of people know this.

"Beginning around 2012, and escalating in intensity through 2017, France has been subject to a series of terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic militants. These included not only the Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan massacres of 2015, which together took the lives of 148 people, but also vehicle attacks like that carried out in 2016 by the Tunisian driver of a cargo truck in Nice on Bastille Day, who was able to crush 86 people to death before security services could kill him. In the wake of these attacks, the French government passed legislation permitting police to kill motorists who flee traffic stops if they believe they pose a danger to others. France, in other words, responded to assaults on public life from self-identified Islamic militants by granting their police wider latitude in the use of force, extending to the shooting of noncompliant drivers like Merzouk."

[The Bedlington Terrier]

That’s OKAY then.

[Swissclaret]

Not a lot of people know this.

"Beginning around 2012, and escalating in intensity through 2017, France has been subject to a series of terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic militants. These included not only the Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan massacres of 2015, which together took the lives of 148 people, but also vehicle attacks like that carried out in 2016 by the Tunisian driver of a cargo truck in Nice on Bastille Day, who was able to crush 86 people to death before security services could kill him. In the wake of these attacks, the French government passed legislation permitting police to kill motorists who flee traffic stops if they believe they pose a danger to others. France, in other words, responded to assaults on public life from self-identified Islamic militants by granting their police wider latitude in the use of force, extending to the shooting of noncompliant drivers like Merzouk."

The only point I am not sure about is the last clause. The laws on the use of force are a little grey in France. Certainly, the use of force was extended, of that there is no doubt. The proportionality is vague. A belief in “posing a danger to others” is subjective.

In this case the policeman has said that he did not intend to shoot to kill. His aim was thrown off by the driver attempting to drive off. Certainly Merzouk was no angel, refusing to stop, driving a stolen car etc.

Perhaps this case will be used to better define the powers given to the police. Personally, I think that a law that potentially protects the lives of innocent people from being slaughtered by militants is to be applauded.