Sharply divided worlds meet at Paris's Gare du Nord
The train station that symbolizes ethnic France was the scene of a riot last month.
from the April 9, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Cool hangout, crime zone
Many young blacks who promenade the Gare du Nord dress stylishly. In an afternoon of interviews, those who will talk say the station is a cool place to bask in an ambiance that matches their aspirations. Police sources say the station is both a hangout and a crime zone for gangs.
Mohammed – "Call me Momo" – is a neatly groomed young Muslim of North African extraction who hangs out with Yannick, from the Congo, who wears a designer track suit. Momo says the police wouldn't have "done that to a white guy." Lionel, who sports high-end tennis shoes, cornrows, jewelry, and a smile bigger than Montana, is from the Congo as well. He is here to meet his girlfriend.
They felt swept into the March 28 rampage, but deny they are living in a state of rage. "We weren't really angry, or at least we didn't start angry, we just felt solidarity," says Lionel. Yannick, who says he came here 11 years ago with his parents, does odd jobs but says what he really wants "is to work in an office … but that's never going to happen." He wants to be like the businessmen whisking past him.
They all hold cellphones – which police say were used to quickly summon the mob of some 300, in the March 28 incident.
Guy, in jeans and a blue-velvet jacket, is a Baptist who wants to do community work in the banlieue. He says he was "expecting something like [the riot] because the station is where everyone comes."
Pointing finger at immigrant kids
He's a mix of patience and exasperation, saying that relations between the police and populations in the banlieue have deteriorated. Most rioters were children of French immigrants, not immigrants, he says, "which is sad given the bad name [immigrants] get in the elections."
"In the colonies, we are all raised to be French, we feel French, but when we come to France, we aren't treated as French…. The kids who broke things were born here. They are French kids who are jobless. People like me, we aren't thinking like that. We just want to work. We don't get in trouble because we know we'll be deported."
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