[Darren]

Just under two weeks ago, according to eyewitness reports, a group of 11 policemen proceeded to enforce an identity check on a group of youths playing football in the Parisian suburb of Clichy. Not wanting to spend time in the nearest police station for not having ID on them, the kids scattered. Six were caught and duly taken to the Police station. Three more were chased down to an electricity substation, whereupon they scaled the fence and entered the said substation.
The Police were aware of this, and passed the information to their command centre by radio. Two of the youths died, and the third received severe burns, as a result of electrocution.
This is what started off the present crisis. The fact that the youths died while being chased by Police (which was initially officially denied) caused the discontented youths of the sprawling "banlieux" to take out their frustration by rioting. The riots have spread throughout France to other suburbs. Thousands of cars have been burned, as well as busses and various civic buildings. Molotov cocktails and even hunting shotguns have been used against police riot squads. Firemen attempting to deal with the fires started by the youths have also been assaulted.

Why are they (the youths of the affected suburbs) frustrated?

- When Nicholas Sarkozy first took over the office of Minister of the Interior, he immediately directed the Police (in a humiliating public interview) to stop all existing programmes aiming at building community relationships with the youth of the suburbs, and instead to concentrate their efforts solely on the repression of crime. This has resulted in a dramatic rise in the incidence of harassment as the Police are under enormous pressure to "get results" quickly. This pressure has been passed off onto the youth of the poorest suburban sprawls, resulting in an increase in the tension between Police and disaffected youths.

- The suburbs worst hit are, to some extent, ghettos for families of African (Maghreban and West Subsahara) origin (even though the vast majority of the youths are 100% French since it was their parents or grandparents who were immigrants). They also tend to be Muslim. These youths are demonstrably the victims of racism on several fronts:

Employment (local unemployment around 40%)
Leisure (refusal of entry to e.g. nightclubs etc)
Housing (many landlords being blatantly racist)
Media (negative stereotypes of "Arabs" etc.)
Religion (negative stereotyping of Islam)
Identity (not considered "French" by many)

- Nicholas Sarkozy has, over the past years, consistently demonized the youths of the "banlieux", using derogatory language on a number of occasions, as well as recently saying that he would "clean up the suburbs with a steam hose". Note that this was all prior to the riots.

- There has been a rise in support for openly racist, Far Right (unashamedly fascist) political movements, notably the Front National. Such movements are fomenting a serious anti-Islamic sentiment in France which is present throughout the country on various levels. The global stigmatizing of Muslims has only added to this problem.

- One Police chief remarked that the only place open 24 hours a day for the youth of these suburbs is the Police station. There is really very little for the kids of these ghettos in the way of facilities or prospects.



So, they are rioting. Oil has been thrown on the fire by the use of a standard issue CRS (riot squad) CS gas canister against people at a mosque, as well as by Sarkozy's standard rhetoric. Tonight, curfews (against minors) have been ordered in several areas, as a 1955 law relating to the declaration of a state of emergency on parts of French territory has been invoked. Ironically, this law dates from the Algerian war of independence, and was initially used as an instrument of colonial repression in Algeria.

These suburbs do represent a part of French society which has been left aside, and there is a real malaise here which runs deep, and which isn't new. Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, demagogues of the Moderate Right (Sarkozy) and the Far Right (Le Pen) are seizing the day to score points for their own authoritarian political stances.

On the bright side, local mediators, community workers and members and the various French Muslim associations are working hard and round the clock at calming down the situation, providing a cool counterpoint to Sarkozy and others' inflammatory rhetoric.