EN Worlders in Paris - How's the city during these riots?

[fuindordm]

I haven't been following the news as much as I normally do lately, so I've missed the actual *why* of this riot.

So, without getting too political, can someone tell me why these people have been rioting?

Well, the event that kicked it off was a couple of teenagers from the cité (low-income, government-subsidized residential area) got electrocuted by hiding in a power station from police that say they weren't even chasing them.

The broader causes are a high level of dissatisfaction in such neighborhoods across France. The people in the cité neighborhoods are poor, largely arabic or african, and have an unemployment rate around 40%, and there's lots of evidence for discrimination against these people in the job market. So there aren't many prospects for moving out of these areas. Many of these people are French (first generation) and feel they're getting a pretty raw deal. Europe in general has been getting lots and lots of immigrants in recent years, and most of the principle countries in western Europe have similar problems.

Also, 'riot' is a pretty strong word for what's been going on. It's really more like a rash of vandalism. There's been a lot of property damage (mostly cars), but almost no violence offered agains people.

Ben

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

Wikipedia: 2005 Civil Unrest in France - Probably more than you wanted to know, but it does have a quick overview of the situation.