Battles in the banlieues: Deep roots for French riots

With nine million immigrants living in France, the state can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to the discrimination at the root of the country’s rioting youths, writes Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill.

NOBODY really knows the size of France’s ethnic groups — it is illegal for any census to ask. In the country that gave us liberty, equality and fraternity, all citizens of the republic are French, and officially that is all you need to know.

But organisations like SOS Racisme estimate there are about nine million of what are loosely described as immigrants among France’s population of 61m and about 1.6m of them live in Paris.