cause of Paris riots: 2 NoAfrican teens electrocuted

hadn't seen this before

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,383067,00.html

....

The search for why begins at a high-voltage electricity substation in the neighborhood. On its door reads a warning, "Electricity is much more powerful than you are." These days, the admonition seems almost cynical. The power station only recently proved just how deadly it can be. Two North African youths -- 15-year-old Bouna and 17-year-old Ziad -- tried to hide from police there last Thursday. The boys thought they were being followed. Twenty thousand volts later, both were dead. Flowers now lay on the street in front of the substation, wrapped in plastic to protect them from the drizzle. There is also a bouquet from the city of Paris -- with a ribbon festooned with the national colors blue, white and red.

The Parisian suburbs are still reeling from the aftermath of the deaths. On Wednesday, for the seventh night in a row, rioting broke out in areas north and east of the city center. Dozens of cars were set on fire by bands of youths, a Renault dealership was set ablaze and a supermarket and gymnasium also went up in flames. The suburbs, populated primarily by Arab and African immigrants, have become the battle ground for a "civil war" as a police union representative has described the events. The violence has also sparked an impassioned debate about the integration of immigrants in the Grande Nation.

Its a few more clues. I've been wondering about this. It still strikes me as odd.

...and an indifferent government tend to shake things up.

But since it is taboo around here to criticize the French social model, you're seeing a lot of people blaming it on "Islamists" which is simultaneously hilarious and frightening.

The electrocuted 'youts' was the trigger, not the cause.

-Hoot

There were kids who are disadvantaged and discriminated against who had enough. When two of their own were, in their mind, attacked, they rioted.

We've had our own race riots here. Why France doesn't call them for what they are is unknown to me.

This "Jihad crap" is just that. Crap.

I thought Muslim immigrants and citizens were rioting, because they believe they are not regarded as equals in France. The ban on Muslim headwear in public schools comes to mind.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1860457,00.html

The riots began when the ethnic youths were electrocuted in trying to get away from police. All you see here is the race riots of poor ethnics being unduly, in their minds, being harrassed.

I guess the French can't bring themselves to calling it race riots.

Calling it a Jihad is insane.

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You have no religious radicals. They are economically depressed and feel discriminated against. Just like here. There is no Jihad. Many of the Southeast Asian kids are also joining in.

Actually, it's much *worse* than here. Even relatively middle class and truly "French" people have less economic independence than your average American, and immigrants have an order of magnitude less independence than that. I think people in the US tend to take for granted that you can do things like changing jobs and starting businesses, which are luxuries not available to a great many middle class people in France.

My local radio talkshow wingnut, who loves Stratsfor, long ago dropped the WMD rationalization for the Iraq Attack, saying that the real reason was to bust-some-Arab-butt, that the militants believed the U.S. did not have the will to fight back.