Anger, not religion, drives French rioting

Firemen fight a blaze at a furniture warehouse late Tuesday in Arras, northern France. For the first time in nearly two weeks France saw a clear fall in the number of overnight attacks yesterday, raising cautious hopes that the worst wave of urban unrest since May 1968 might be receding.. PHOTO: AFP

"Why did they ask the imam of the Paris mosque to calm down the youths?" asked Saidou, 22, the self-appointed spokesman for a group of boys in the neighbourhood.

A third of Trappes' 28,000 residents are Muslims, according to local officials.

"The violence is a phenomenon of society. Islam has nothing to do with it," he added.

A 17-year-old who left school three years ago said bluntly: "We want to make war. To let loose on the cops. They're looking for a fight. As long as (Interior Minister Nicolas) Sarkozy is around, we'll keep burning cars. We'll burn society," he added.

In Trappes, 27 buses worth 3.5 million euros (4.1 million dollars) were torched and destroyed in their depot.

"Do they have to wait for us to riot for there to be dialogue? We've appealed for help, they don't care. It's been going on for 30 years. Even we don't know how it will end," said Saidou.

On Monday night alone, some 1,173 vehicles were burnt in towns and cities across France and some 330 people were arrested.

The previous night, it was 1,400 torched cars and 395 arrests.

The youths behind the violence are mostly drawn from the large Muslim communities.

"Whenever there is a problem in a country, its the Muslims (who are blamed)," said Karim.

"It's not the Muslims, it's people who are in dire straits. I've got a qualification in construction. I'm in construction, but because I have no choice. There is work, but they give us the dirty work.

"What's our future? We are condemned to stay in the high rises!," he added.