FRENCH: A petty criminal saved from deportation by French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy came back to haunt the presidential frontrunner when he drove a stolen car at police guarding the prime minister.
The incident thrust Mr Sarkozy's crime and immigration policies back under the spotlight. The conservative has built his strong poll ratings on the back of a tough law and order stance.
Police providing security for the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, opened fire and slightly wounded the Algerian-born man, named as Cherif Bouchelaleg, after he approached a checkpoint at high speed in a stolen car on Tuesday.
Mr Sarkozy said it had been Mr Bouchelaleg's case that convinced him to soften the law and allow foreign-born nationals to remain in France following their release from prison, so as not to deprive children of a parent. Mr Bouchelaleg (32) has been in France since he was 11 and is married to a French woman by whom he has six children.
Police said Mr Bouchelaleg did not appear to have targeted Mr de Villepin, who was visiting the small town of Sallanches on Wednesday, close to the Swiss and Italian borders. Rather, it was an unfortunate coincidence as Mr Bouchelaleg was trying to flee the scene of a crime.
Shortly after taking office in 2002, Mr Sarkozy persuaded the ruling Union for a Popular Movement to repeal the double jeopardy statute that expels foreign nationals convicted of offences in France. The move was hailed by rights groups and wrong-footed the Socialists who had failed to take the step when in office.
Mr Sarkozy, who has campaigned loudly for stiffer sentences for repeat offenders, said Mr Bouchelaleg should now face "the severest possible punishment for repeat offenders", but he stood by his repeal of double jeopardy laws. "What's at stake here is absolutely not the issue of double jeopardy."
The case comes on top of a messy summer row over Mr Sarkozy's decision to allow 6,000 illegal immigrants to stay in France while forcing some 14,000 others to leave, a situation that was highlighted by protests over the expulsion of a Nigerian teenager on Wednesday. Crime and immigration could feature prominently in next year's presidential campaign.
It didn't take long for Mr Sarkozy's political rivals to leap on the event. "This is symbolic. By his irresponsible policies Sarkozy is putting the state, and France, in peril," said the far-right leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen.