French PM to impose curfews, deploy police forces to combat rioting News
French PM to impose curfews, deploy police forces to combat rioting

[JURIST] As rioting continues to spread in France [JURIST report], Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin [BBC profile] on Monday announced [press release; TF1 interview excerpts, both in French] the implementation of curfews and the deployment of 9,500 police officers and gendarmes in an effort to stop the escalating violence. Under state-of-emergency law, Villepin will impose the measures in as many as 300 localities. Commentators and some European politicians [JURIST report] suggest that the tension in immigrant-dominated, largely-Muslim ghettos is related to broader racial and religious issues in France, symbolized by the debate last spring over the French government's banning [JURIST report] of religious dress [JURIST archive], including Muslim head scarves [BBC report], in schools. AP has more. Le Monde has local coverage (in French).

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.