When the poor French suburbs catch media attention, it is usually because they are up in flames.
The current conflagration is no exception. It was triggered by the killing of Nahel M, 17, after police say he failed to comply with an order to stop his car in Nanterre near Paris.
The tragedy has turned the spotlight again on the so-called “banlieues” – the suburbs of French cities – which have been hit by another wave of riots across France.
For some, the violence is the result of poverty and discrimination: entrenched social ills ensure that France’s bleak estates remain tinderboxes.
Local French police chief
‘They aren’t riots, it’s war …They want to kill us’.#FranceRiots #FranceHasFallen #FranceOnFire pic.twitter.com/ypcAmFLYOM— Paul Golding (@GoldingBF) July 3, 2023
It’s a real mystery! I mean aside from the fact France has a violent non-integrated parallel society that despises the Republic’s values and seeks the nation’s destruction. Other than that it’s a real mystery.
