madkins
Registered
*Olaf Thommessen got a close look at integration.
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1691602.ece
Aftenposten in English
Trouble first-hand
March 15, 2007
The deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Olaf Thommessen, narrowly avoided serious injury during a visit to a Paris suburb on Wednesday.
Thommessen, 40, had his head grazed by a stone thrown by protesting youths in Mureaux.
"A frightening and unpleasant experience," Thommessen said.
Thommessen is in France to gain experience on integration and immigration. Mureaux and its neighboring suburbs were the center of dramatic rioting in Paris a year and a half ago.
"The atmosphere was tense. But in a way I understand their reaction. They have an extreme feeling of hopelessness and depression and then we come and look, as if it were a zoo," Thommessen told newspaper VG, which accompanied him on the trip.
"These are conditions that we must try to hinder in Norway. Here one can see what works and what doesn't," Thommessen said, and pointed out measures to pull down large apartment blocks and replace the areas with open urban solutions that are supposed to hinder the creation of ghettoes.
"Some brag about it, others criticize the fact that several thousand are being forced to move from their homes. This shows that you can't just fill up buildings with families. There are many places in Oslo that are in danger of being similar to areas like these," Thommessen said.
Skara Brae,
madkins
*Lise Aserud