WebProNews

Searching from the French Google page for terms related to the rioting that has rocked Paris for several days returns a Google Ad seeking support for a political party.

The French Minister of the Interior, Nicholas Sarkozy, appears to have turned to Google AdWords to help garner support for France's efforts to regain control after days of rioting, the Morrison blog noted.

Sarkozy's party has placed a petition on the party's website, seeking endorsements from the public in favor of the minister's policies. Morrison described how this works:

If you search on Google France for words associated with the riots like "banlieue", "Sarkozy", "Sarko", you'll find a Google ad which reads

Emeutes en banlieue
Soutenez la politique de Nicolas
Sarkozy pour rtablir l'ordre

Which roughly translates as "Suburban Riots, Support the policy of Nicolas Sarkozy to re-establish order". According to Liberation, with a 10% click through rate, more than 3,000 people had signed the online petition by 2pm this afternoon.
A quick test on Google.fr confirmed the ad's placement and content. To date, the BBC has reported hundreds of arrests and burned vehicles in France.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.