Abstract
From the middle of October to the end of November 2005, French society lived through the most violent urban unrest since the 1968 student-worker riots. The balance sheet is both worrying and upsetting. About 274 cities were affected by these riots, with one death, 126 policemen and firefighters injured, more than 3000 people arrested, hundred of schools damaged and about 9000 vehicles torched. The riots were precipitated by the death of two teenagers in Clichy-sous-Bois, a suburb of Paris: Bouna Traore and Zyed Benna, 15 and 17 year-old boys. They were electrocuted as they ran through an electrical power station, apparently fleeing the police. The reaction was immediate in the district of Clichy because a lot of inhabitants believed that the two young boys were victims of an unfair discrimination. Twenty-three cars were burned, the centre of assistance of the fire department was destroyed, windows were broken and bus shelters put on fire. Hardly a few days later this violence spread to the neighboring suburbs, and then to the whole area of Ile de France. Within two weeks later, the riots could be observed on a national scale. However, more disturbing than the violent aspect of these riots, was the denunciation of the French model of integration.
