Paris burns

Just two years after the riots that raged across Paris’s suburbs, Paris Banlieue was again burning this week. The riots also spread to the southern city of Toulouse.

 

Critics of the French government say that the unrest is a reminder of how little has changed for the suburbs’ residents since 2005. Figures show that they still live with 50 per cent youth unemployment, high crime, drug abuse, as well as poor housing and infrastructure.

 

During his election campaign, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, promised what he called a “Marshal Plan” to rescue the suburbs.

 

But does France need this kind of plan? What are the underlying causes of the recurrent unrest in France?

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