Integration under scrutiny

Following a barrage of catcalls from Tunisian-born French while the French national anthem was being played at a friendly game between France and Tunisia in Paris, France's government plans to take a hard line in future incidents of this nature. The Belgian daily Le Soir advises the French government to revise its integration policy. "The real event did not take place on the pitch. France has lost; France and above all the French integration model. Nicolas Sarkozy would do well to take immediate action. These incidents are serious and the images catastrophic. They resemble those ... of cars set on fire in Seine-Saint-Denis [a Paris suburb] in the last few days. ... Of course there was no physical violence at the stadium, but the symbolic content is nonetheless the same. These incidents cannot go unanswered. But are the measures that were decided at the Elysée Palace within the space of an hour [games to be abandoned if there are catcalls] ... the right approach? These incidents ... call for far-reaching measures to bridge the deep divide that has emerged between France and its suburbs."

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