According to Brochand, somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 may have taken part in the urban violence, creating a situation much more dangerous than in 2005, when similar rioting took place in France’s suburbs. Nothing comparable had ever happened since the French Revolution of 1789, notes Brochand, and, this time, even provincial towns have been affected by the troubles alongside the centers of big cities, in contrast to what happened 18 years ago when most of the rioting was constricted to the so-called sensitive neighborhoods.
“I would describe the present catastrophe as an uprising or revolt against the French national state, by a significant proportion of the youth of non-European origin present on its territory,” says Brochand.
“Will we draw the right lessons from this, given that the country’s vital prognosis is at stake? Will we consider remedies other than yet another ‘plan for the suburbs?’ Things being what they are, I doubt it,” he concludes on a pessimistic note.