[rant on]
The starting point has been the horrible (and nonetheless stupid) death of two teenagers, supposedly chased by the police.
Was it hot pursuit or not, nobody knows up to now....

Then the Interior's Minister had some "harsh" words, promising the inhabitants of that poor suburb he would get rid of the "riffraff".
A few months ago, he did speak about "cleaning up" the suburbs.

So, some people resent those words and pretend he insulted the whole community.
And that's a good enough reason to start riots !

Anyway, I don't see what this has to do with what is actually happening : cars, buses, warehouses, nursery schools, a.s.o. burning every night since 11 days.

Some people say all this is due to poverty, unemployement, racial segregation a.s.o...

But I would not say these "incidents" have a political meaning : they burn their own neighbours' cars, people not richer than they are, people already in difficulties up to their throat.. Plain stupid.
If they would burn cars in rich suburbs or destroy more meaningful buildings... then it could eventually be understood as a political statement.
But burning your little brothers/sisters nursery school !?! What is this supposed to mean ??

Now, looking at how things are spreading around in various towns of France, it may not be impossible to see there some kind of organisation...
Are there "political" leaders (or religious extremists ?) behind these riots ? Or are the organisers just drug dealers trying to exploit a bad situation, to prevent police forces to "clean" these suburbs of a few criminal elements ?
Who really knows ?

Or it may simply be a game, a contest between differents "cities", just to see who get the most TV coverage, who "scores" more cars...
Most of these "rioters" are just teenagers, looking for some fun. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />
Yes, they can be stupid enough for this to be a valuable explanation ! <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

[rant off]
(just my own uneducated opinion)