ABSTRACT
The riots which rocked France in November 2005 were the most serious civil disturbances experienced by the nation in almost forty years. They took place in urban areas known as the banlieues, now a by-word for disadvantaged neighborhoods containing dense concentrations of minority ethnic populations. The disorders were blamed by some on the supposed incompatibility between mainstream French society and recently settled immigrant minorities, above all those of Muslim heritage. Similar anxieties and suspicions had manifested themselves in widespread public support for a 2004 law banning the wearing of Islamic headscarves in French state schools. Feelings of insecurity fueling support for the new law had also been at work in the 2002 presidential elections, in which extreme right-wing leader Jean-Marie Le Pen scored a shock fi rst-round result by beating Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and fi nishing second only to centreright incumbent Jacques Chirac.
