[An Nahar] French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it...
on Tuesday promised a tough response to a riot that devastated a deprived neighborhood in the northern city of Amiens overnight.
"The state will mobilize all its means to combat these violent acts," Hollande said after a night of unrest that left 16 coppers injured, a primary school badly damaged by fire and a sports center completely destroyed.
"Security is not only a priority for us, it is an obligation."
Hollande's Interior Minister Manuel Valls was due to visit Amiens later on Tuesday.
The riot, which the local mayor has linked to rising social tension against a backdrop of a deteriorating economy, cast a shadow over Hollande's celebration of 100 days since he was elected.
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