France to face new riots?

Among some of the young immigrants in France, the unrest that triggered the riots two months ago is not over but only waiting to break out again.

In one of the suburbs of Paris, a group of young men were seen recently singing about the riots, about being Muslim and about not feeling French in France, according to the International Herald Tribune.

The riots may have ended for now but the youths fear being let down again by a political class they say had allowed mass unemployment and social despair to fester for decades in the poor suburbs, the report said.

"The rage in the suburbs is only asleep," said a French youth of Mauritanian origin who has been jobless since dropping out of school. "It wouldn't take much to wake it up again."

Social workers and non-governmental organizations say they are managing the calm on a day-to-day basis. The police remain on high alert ahead of the New Year's Eve.

The government has promised to fight joblessness and discrimination, and to make 2006 the year of "equal opportunity."

But the restless youth in the poor suburbs dismiss these measures as political posturing, UPI reports.

V.Y.