Select a language
Trappes, a working-class suburb of Paris, was the scene of rioting on July 20 and 21, set off when police asked a woman wearing a burka – a cloak which covers the face and body, worn by religious Muslim women and which is illegal in France – to take part in an identity check.
These events are mostly "symptomatic of an unrelieved discontent in the suburbs," explains French daily Liberation. The paper warns of the risk that certain neighbourhoods, hard hit by unemployment and discrimination, could flare up and stresses the political responsibilities –
The overwhelming responsibility for this situation falls to the left as well as the right. The minimal place occupied by working-class neighbourhoods in the 2012 presidential election is sufficient to measure the political discomfort. Despite the crisis and fiscal austerity, the clashes in Trappes remind the government of the urgency of the problem.
Receive the best of European journalism straight to your inbox every Thursday
A conversation with investigative reporters Stefano Valentino and Giorgio Michalopoulos, who have dissected the dark underbelly of green finance for Voxeurop and won several awards for their work.
Go to the event >