FRANCE: Paris teeters on the edge of social and racial tensions one year after riots in troubled neighbourhoods swept across the nation

Rioting could break out in poor multi-ethnic neighbourhoods around Paris one year after unrest swept across France last October, French police and mayors of affected suburbs have warned on Wednesday (October 25). Gangs of youths have attacked police units on the outskirts of Paris in recent weeks escalating such violent incidents ahead of the one year anniversary of the 2005 riots. Organisations struggling to educate youths as an alternative to violence have said France must break up the ghetto structure of its poor suburbs or its society is likely to continue facing an increase in violence because frustrated youths in poor areas find little other escape. "How could it burst again ? We all know the riots started because of the police, their tough controls. Police interventions are turning very bad. Police mistakes were at the core of the riots. So we want the return of the local police which was very much appreciated and we don't want police with coercive methods. Here we deal with cowboys and I think that is not a good idea," said Amad Li, himself a former troubled youngster now turned social worker assisting other confused youths. "The riots, were a way for the youngsters to be activists if we can say so. They burnt cars, they wanted to be heard by the media. It was broadcast in France and worldwide but there are many other ways to be a militant [to have a voice]: register on the electoral list and vote. There at least, one knows that we exist in France," added Abderhamane Hotmann, a youngster who Amad Li has been working with. But although some groups have pointed to poverty, unemployment and discrimination as the root causes for the Oct.27 riots, politicians such as presidential favourite and current Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy as well as some members of the French police have said much of the violence is opportunistic by gangs of criminals trying to take control of poor neighbourhoods to create "no go zones" for authorities. "Really since the riots, it did not stop. It became more radical. The common denominator is the violence towards police whatever the reasons are. We notice that our colleagues are attacked continually and are ambushed and are trapped. We have the impression that these people try to prompt the policemen to make mistakes, and then use it to launch new riots in Seine Saint Denis," said Loic Lecouplier, a policeman and member of the Police Alliance Union. Claude Dilain, mayor of the riot-hit neighbourhood Clichy-Sous-Bois said urban violence risked erupting again if the poor continued to be stigmatised. "I am doing everything I can to avoid new riots," said Dilain. "Of course, I'm worried because I read the newspapers like everybody else and I also listen to the local residents and I can feel that it can blow up again. But to those people, and the others as well, I say: 'Stop burning the cars because you will prove that they are right to ask for more security in the suburbs.' This is the only thing they want. So, I'm telling them if you burn cars we will loose the battle, we will loose the political battle," said Dilain sitting in his town hall close to rows of derelict high-rise housing blocks," said Dilain. But Dilain agrees with youth group leaders trying to offer an alternative to violence that little has improved in the way of life for the people of Clichy-Sous-Bois since youngsters angry about discrimination torched dozens of cars there last October, sparking the worst civil unrest in France in 40 years. "The positive aspect of the problem is a quite important and sudden civic awareness coming from the youngsters. So, many young people registered on the electoral lists and what happened made them come to their senses as regards a participation in the democracy. Following our action last December with "AC le Feu" (Stop the Burning), some 1,000 youngsters registered on the electoral lists within 15 days. It's huge. It's never happened before. But the negative aspect is that little has improved as regards town planning and housing," said Mehdi Bigaderne, a member of the Beyond Words Association helping to better integrate youths into the communities. Dilain urged France's political parties to make the suburbs' isolation, poverty and unemployment priorities for next year's presidential election. Dilain said the town of 28,000 people was still waiting for a police station and for a tramway line that would shorten the current 90-minute journey to Paris, which made many in Clichy feel like they lived in a locked-up ghetto. Last year's riots started in Clichy-Sous-Bois after two youngsters died while apparently fleeing police. In the three weeks of rioting that followed in poor suburbs around France, youths -- many of them descendants of immigrants from Africa -- torched some 9,000 vehicles and dozens of public buildings and businesses. The government invoked emergency powers to quell the unrest. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative presidential front-runner, and Segolene Royal, his likely Socialist challenger, have both been outspoken on the issues of crime and immigration, but rights groups charge that both have said little on how to tackle discrimination and poverty. Political analyst Henri Rey, who has been following the events in suburbs throughout France and has written a book about the poor neighbourhoods known as banlieue, has questioned some media reports anticipating a potential repeat of last year's problems. "To talk about it all the the time and to focus on those events all the time which happen frequently in those areas [Banlieue or French suburbs], to put them on the news headlines all the time is something provoking. And in the public civic interest we should ask ourselves if it is really wise to hype the anniversary, announce the anniversary is coming and this is the anniversary. I think there is something unhealthy about that," he said. Dilain said riots could start again in the "banlieue", the high-rising neighbourhoods outside Paris. In Clichy-Sous-Bois, half of the population is under the age of 25 and unemployment in some areas is 40 percent -- four times the national average.

ITN Source | October 26, 2006

Tags:. .racial. .priorities. .ourselves. .escalating. .quell