here are a couple of outtakes from a CNN article
"The riots began after two youths of North African descent were electrocuted when they hid in an electric power station, believing they were being followed by police.
Since then, the rioting has spread from the Paris outskirts to inside the city limits as well as to poor neighborhoods across the country, shocking French society.
Rioters have hit towns such as Lille in the north to Rouen and Orleans in the west, the Mediterranean cities of Nice and Cannes, and Strasbourg and Colmar in the east, with youths attacking shops, schools and a police station.
Fears were also growing that the unrest could take hold elsewhere in Europe. Cars have been torched in both Brussels and Berlin, and police said they were investigating if they were copycat attacks. (Full story)
'Delinquents behind damage'
In explaining the deployment of more police and invoking curfews, de Villepin told the private TF1 channel that "the response of the government is firmness."
So far more than 1,200 arrests have been made.
The prime minister has blamed some of the violence on "criminal networks" but said much of it was carried out by "gangs of very young youths" who feel they have suffered discrimination and depravation.
Asked who was causing the violence, the prime minister responded, "They are delinquents."
The rioting youths, many of whom are children of Muslim immigrants from Africa, have not given any demands. Many say they should simply have the same opportunities as other French nationals.
The unemployment rate for young people in some of the neighborhoods runs as high as 50 percent."
France Riots