Just curious. How are the French likely to respond politically and culturally to this rioting by the North African immigrants?
Interesting question. I have no idea. I called my Dad today to get the inside info over there (he lives in Nice). He didn’t really have much to offer. He compared it to intercity rioting It certain won’t help the Muslims over there, that’s for sure.
What are France’s immigration policies? I can certainly see some of the more nationalistic in the government want to start tightening things up, and the businesses who profit by the cheap immigrant labor scream. I know that sound…it sounds just like California! 
I don’t see how they ended up with so many poor immigrants in the first place. It is VERY difficult to get a work permit for the EU; unless you have a masters degree or IT skills or a specific company wants you so bad that they’ll go through the red tape and expense of hiring you, it’s next to impossible to get a visa over there. So how did all these poor, jobless immigrants get in in the first place? Some of them, undoubtedly, are the children of people who came in when the laws were looser, but many seem like they’re first generation. Are they refugees? Are they former French colonies that have special deals?
If it’s the latter and the French want to stem immigration, just apply the same rules to the ex-colonies that they apply to the rest of the world. That’ll keep them out.
There’s certainly there’s specific ways citizens of the Commonwealth, i.e. former British colonies, to gain residence in Britain - I suspect a similar situation exists in France. There’s also significant numbers of former refugees now with full residence in EU countries. And thirdly, Fortress Europe is a fairly recent phenomenon, with not so long ago it being much easier to move here with the intention of filling the labour shortages we had (and have).
In many cases of this kind, the problems arise in the second generation local-born descendents of immigrants, and I’ve seen nothing to suggest the current situation in France is different. So the immigration policy is only indirectly linked to the immediate situation.
I think you may be confusing two different things.
During the summer you may remember there were a couple of horrible fires in the city of Paris itself which involved ‘immigrants’ in over crowded sub-standard housing ? These ‘immigrants’ were first generation (some with young kids) and seemed to be mainly from sub-Saharan Africa. Many were ‘sans papiers’, ie here illegally, however some of the kids were enrolled in school and some held down jobs (some inside, some outside the French system).
The current problems are in the suburbs, ‘greater Paris’ if you will, a very important distinction for the French. Anyway, the youth involved are the offspring of a previous generation of immigrants. Like many European countries France has a hard time finding work and hope to give young people who have grown up in relative poverty. I guess if you (are made to) feel like an outsider too the alienation just grows.
Sadly situations like this are bound to be distorted by certain political elements but, as others have said, France is already pretty ‘closed’.
It seems to be the age old problem.
Immigrants are let in by the govt but the racism of the local population means they can’t get jobs (or can only get jobs they are over qualified for). They become resentful and when large numbers of them gather they show that resentment.
It seems Muslims are not the flavour of the month anywhere.
Who would blame the young, unemployed for being cranky? Surely all countries with an immigrant percentage of the population could be in the same situation as France? Maybe it is time to realise that being inclusive solves problems, while being exclusive starts problems.