France on Edge as Riot Anniversary Approaches

PARIS, Oct. 25, 2006 — -- On Oct. 27, 2005, in the rough, gritty Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, two French teenagers of African descent died. Their deaths set similar suburbs all over France ablaze in weeks of protest.

More than 10,000 vehicles were torched, 300 buildings destroyed or damaged, and 6,000 people arrested. About 12,000 police were mobilized throughout the unrest. French insurance companies announced this week that they paid out $200 million to victims of last year's attacks.

With the anniversary of those riots approaching, the tension still pervades and French authorities expect a new outbreak of violence in its suburbs.

The feelings of malcontent remain, as the government has so far addressed only a few of the complaints that drove last year's riots.

The poor immigrants (largely of African and Arab descent) who live in these suburbs of high unemployment still feel excluded and discriminated against.

A pessimistic-sounding confidential note from a French intelligence agency was published in Le Figaro, a Paris daily. The note, dated Oct. 11, said, "Most of the conditions which led a year ago to the start of the collective violence ... are still present.".

That note confirms renewed tensions observed by the police, local officials and suburban youth clubs. Recent incidents have made these feelings palpable.

Last weekend, in the Paris suburb of Grigny, a gang of youths, some wearing masks, attacked a bus, forced its passengers off and then set it on fire. There have also been several skirmishes between youths from the suburbs and police officer, some of them planned ambushes.

"France has been on the verge of an explosion in its suburbs for the last 20 years or so. What we don't know is the size of the explosion," said Sébastien Roché, a researcher at the National Council for Scientific Research in Grenoble, France, and author of "The Shiver of the Riot: Urban Violences and the Suburbs."

"There are permanent confrontations between the police and the minorities in the poor neighborhoods," Roché added.