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Chirac Under the Gun
| Article
# : |
10353 |
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Section : |
Current Issues
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1986 |
1,586 Words |
| Author
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Sanjiv Prakash
Sanjiv Prakash is a print and television journalist based in
the Washington, D.C. area. |
The presidential ambitions of French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac are resting on his ability to fight the terrorists who for the past three months have paralyzed France with multiple waves of bombings and sabotage. Paris-based experts of French politics say that the bombings could break him, or depending upon his handling of the situation, could make him the next French president when the present incumbent's term expires in 1988.
At the end of August, Parisians returned from the beaches after a particularly hot summer. The terrorists were waiting. The first victims on September 4 were lucky. A bomb was placed under a seat in a subway train during rush hour at the Gare de Lyons. Passengers actually saw it detonate, but the 19 sticks of plastic explosive failed to explode. Four days later, a bomb went off in a post office at the city hall, killing a woman and spraying blood and glass across the counters. Four days after that, people queuing for lunch at a self-service restaurant five miles to the west were mown down. Increased security and the deployment of police and paramilitary forces did not prevent the terrorists from making the Champs Elysees the next target. A man ordered an orange juice in the crowded bar of the Renault showrooms. He walked out without drinking it, leaving a bouquet of flowers and a parcel behind. The parcel was taken to a basement where it exploded, killing a policeman.
Although the bombings are ostensibly aimed at freeing convicted Lebanese terrorist Georges Abdallah from jail, they may also have an indirect effect on the political future of Prime Minister Jacques Chirac.
Hitting
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