From National Review's "The Week", 11/6/06:

A largely unreported civil war is going on in France: Arab and Muslim youth daily fight the police. At the end of last year, in many weeks of continuous and violent rioting, the police—indeed, the government—lost control of the street and have been trying to recover it ever since. No chance. This year, according to the latest count done by the Ministry of the Interior, nearly 2,500 officers have been wounded. The Muslims live in ghettoes and are largely unemployed. A high proportion either use or deal in drugs. In one such ghetto, Les Mureaux, a Paris suburb, two policemen tried to ticket a Muslim for not wearing a seatbelt. Refusing to stop, he rammed through the police car blocking his way. Hundreds of youths then stormed out of the high-rise buildings around and attacked the policemen, leaving one of them with a double-skull fracture. Spokesmen for the police speak of an intifada, and are demanding armored vehicles and water cannons to deal with it. But the politicians and media come out with their hands up, calling for more social services and affirmative action and giving permission to build ever more grandiose mosques. Pretty soon, there will be more skull fractures, if not worse.