katherine, as we know, france prides itself on making no distinction between its citizens on the basis of religion or ethnicity. but bite seem in reality that is not the case. do you feel that this is some sort of reckoning for france, what s going on right now? well, things are certainly coming to a head, but there s a sense in which we ve been here before. every 15, 20 years or so, there seems to be an anger which boils over. and some of the people that i ve been speaking to in the suburbs of france, including where this particular cycle of violence was first sparked by the shooting of this young man, people say they feel that nothing has really changed, that they are not included in mainstream french society, that they are the victims of police brutality, that the police treat them roughly with impunity. france does not collect data on demographics by ethnicity because the state wants to be seen as color blind, but a lot
sparked the protests. let s get more from katherine norris-trent, senior correspondent for france 24. this is a fifth night of protests. i know you ve been on the street, speaking to protesters. do you see the violence abating any time soon? it has been a bit of a calmer night across france than the previous days and nights, gut that s relative. more than 700 people were arrested overnight from saturday to sunday, and there were disturbances in several towns and cities across france with cars and bins set on fire, shops pillages, clashes between protesters and police. so there is still this anger which is boiling over and this sense of desperation for a lot of young people in city suburbs or poorer areas of france who say that they just feel they re ignored by the system, that they re the targets of police brutality in france, and they re