The continuing violence in France following the deaths of two young Muslim men in a Paris suburb has revealed the dark side of a country divided by ghettos and simmering tensions.

A chance encounter with police after a soccer game on Oct. 27 ended tragically with the deaths of Zyed Benna, 17, and Bouna Traore, 15, in what the French authorities described as an accidental electrocution.

According to witnesses, the teenagers fled to avoid the lengthy questioning that youths in France's housing projects say they often face from police.

Police deny accusations that there was a chase and say the young men were electrocuted as they hid in a transformer at an electrical substation.

That evening, as news of the deaths spread, youths began to burn cars, break windows and vandalize bus stops in Clichy-sous-Bois -- the impoverished and segregated north-eastern suburb of Paris where the teenagers lived.

A small fire burned itself out in a school building and a cordon of nearly 50 police officers prevented a group of youths from approaching the town hall.

Anger that started locally soon spread quickly across France through Internet chat rooms, cellphone text messages and online articles.

Tear gas

Four days after the deaths in Clichy-sous-Bois, just as community leaders were beginning to calm the situation, French security forces re-ignited the violence by targeting a mosque with tear gas.

The official reason for the police action was a badly parked car in front of the mosque. The government refused to offer any apology to the Muslim community.

On the 11th night of the violence, rioting affected up to 300 towns in France. A 61-year-old man died after being beaten and almost 400 people were arrested.

After 12 nights of rioting, President Jacques Chirac declared a state of emergency, paving the way for curfews in a bid to halt the violence.

Media reports described the events as "unprecedented" and the "worst unrest since the Second World War."

Ticking bomb

Yet Clichy-sous-Bois has long been a ticking bomb for the violent social upheaval France is currently experiencing.

Half of the suburb's inhabitants are under 20, unemployment levels are at least 40 per cent and police harassment is common.

Elsewhere in France, the jobless rate among French-Arabs and French-Africans is frequently as high as 30 per cent -- triple the national average.

French-Arabs regularly claim that when identical resumes are submitted to an employer with an Arab name on one and a French name on another, the resume with the French name will get priority.

Is it a problem of immigration? Or failed integration? Or just blatant racism?

Or is it the fault of Nicolas Sarkozy, the ambitious Interior Minister who fuelled tensions when he vowed to wage a "war without mercy" on crime in the suburbs, describing the rioters as "scum."

Discrimination

France keeps poor Muslims fed, housed and educated, but has not effectively addressed the social or political isolation they feel from job and housing discrimination.

Many young French Muslims find themselves questioning where they really belong. They have weaker ties than their parents did to their ancestral countries, but they are also discovering that, contrary to what they have been taught in school, they are not fully French.

Already, French-Arabs and French-Africans make up the majority of inmates in France's prisons.

In April, Amnesty International singled out the violence and racism of the French police towards the non-white people of the suburbs for particular criticism.

On Nov. 8, 12 days after the riots began, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin admitted his country faced a "moment of truth" in fighting racial discrimination.

Speaking to a special session of the National Assembly called to address the wave of unrest, Villepin said France faced a choice between "division or coming together."

"We must be lucid: The Republic is at a moment of truth," Villepin said. "What is being questioned is the effectiveness of our integration model.

"These discriminations ... deprive our country of talent and the determination to succeed like others. They feed ... frustration and the feeling of not belonging to the national community."

But actions and attitudes speak louder than words.

In 2002, far right National Front candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen won enough votes to get through to the final round of the French elections.

Le Pen has described immigration as "the worst danger we have ever met in history."

In today's France, a deep political and social transformation is required in order for the country's 'eternal immigrants' to be recognized as full and equal citizens of the republic of 'liberté, egalité, fraternité.'

The present and unfortunate 'realité' still has a long way to go.