Dec 26 2005
The year 2005 was a tough one for France, as rioting spread throughout the nation and the grand city of Paris lost its front-runner bid for the Olympics. Here is a recap of the worst of 2005 for France:
- Rioting in France - Easily the worst violence and bad press France has experienced in quite some time, the spreading rioting throughout this country claimed international headlines. Many argued it revealed a flawed system in which minority, underdog residents of France are poorly treated. Fortunately, after days in the grips of fires and violence, the rioting started to wane. Ultimately, the French government decided to deport any non-citizen rioters.
- Paris Loses Olympic Bid - In a dramatic surprise around the world, Paris lost its bid to host the 2012 Olympics. Long considered the clear front-runner, the Olympic committee shocked the sporting world by snubbing Paris and instead handing the honor to London. After this global embarassment, Paris officials soon announced they had no intention of making a 2016 Olympic bid. The timing, in the midst of Lance Armstrong's exciting and record-setting run for another Tour de France title, was also unfortunate.
- Oprah Winfrey Turned Away from Paris Boutique - This story raised the ire of people on both sites of the argument. When Oprah approached an upscale Parisian boutique that was closed, should they have let her inside anyway? Oprah cried racism, but store officials said they would let no one in (celebrity or not) after hours that day because of a closed-door PR event inside.
- Paris Turns on Tom Cruise - Tom Cruise might have chosen the City of Light and its most popular attraction, the Eiffel Tower, as the setting for his extremely public proposal to Katie Holmes. This gesture did little to impress the city's leaders, however, with them voting to never welcome Cruise there. They referred to him as a militant for the Scientology organization.