Is Religion behind the French Riots?

What factor does religion play in the riots currently occurring in France?

I am not looking for a flame war here! This is a legitimate question. French social dynamics is not a strong subject for me, so I am in the dark. I know that France has a large Muslim population and I know that there are issues with unemployment and discrimination.

What is the religious/ethnic makeup of the majority and minority populations?

If there is death, hurt and/or hate then you can be sure that some religion is behind the riots. Directly or indirectly it is a part.

Originally posted by I See You
If there is death, hurt and/or hate then you can be sure that some religion is behind the riots. Directly or indirectly it is a part.

Sure, Sure In that I agree, but I was looking for a bit more. I was hoping our EU members could shed some light on the latest news.

yes, my wife and i were discussing that today. originally, i just figured they were your typical "lower class getting fed up with the system" riots, but she seems to think religion may have something to do with it. the news outlets here in the US seem to mention "muslims" or "islamic" with every report. is this just the american media trying to blame muslims, or is there something to it?

Didn't the French have a revolution in 1789? Maybe it's history repeating itself. "those who don't learn from the past are destined to repeat it" eh?

But it can't happen here....

Originally posted by whaaa
Didn't the French have a revolution in 1789? Maybe it's history repeating itself. "those who don't learn from the past are destined to repeat it" eh?

But it can't happen here....

Actually I think the situations are similar though I have very little knowledge on the French Revolution. I don't think religion has much to do with it other than the fact that the imigrants that are involved are from simlar regions and for the most part same beliefs.

This really sounds more like the LA riots after the video of the rodney green beating was released. From what I read, what started this was to "kids" ( no actual age given from what I have seen) running from the police and being electricuted because they had a poor choice in hiding places.

I think religion might have something to do with the media coverage, but that is my own speculation.

[edit on 6-11-2005 by silentlonewolf]

Religon and Ethnicity ahve little to do with each other, unless you are Jewish.

I think religon has no part in the French riots. I think the riots are caused by a bunch of sorry assed punks looking to blame their own misfortunes on anything they can think of, including a "perception" of discrimination. Two idiots kill themselves by running into an electric hazard while running from the cops for probably no good reason, and a bunch of useless hooligans, who were most likely a bunch of losers with violent tendancies, used it as an excuse to practice their anti social behavior on a larger and more forceful scale.

The people rioting out there are young males from many different races, from Algerians to young white Frenchmen. Religon and Ethnicity play no real part in this whole mess, its a bunch of spoiled young punks who want everything handed to them on a silver platter.