The irony of it all

The suburbs continue to simmer in Paris where youths rioted on Tuesday after a man was arrested and allegedly treated roughly by police for not paying his fare at a city train station.

The common, left/liberal view of these riots is that they are an expression of frustration at the state. Those on the right see it more as a sign of an innate deliquency. Either way the protests are likely to impact on the upcoming election.

The impact they have will be directly influenced by voters' political tendencies - if you like Sarkozy and Le Pen, you will probably feel that this violence proves they are correct in the harsh line they take with 'troublemakers' generally and non-white troublemakers in particular. But if you're more to the left I would say you believe that that causes of these frustrations must be addressed, in order to prevent them.

Of course the world is not as straighforward as that. Most voters, it appears from other European elections, are centerists. I would guess they are more concerned with being able to walk safely down the streets than whether or not every citizen has an equal oppportunity. Therefore it seems to me that the riots will benefit the Right more than the Left, and have no benefits at all for the people who are protesting. Recent polls seem to bare that out. The one hope is for them is that one of the main candidates will aknowledge this and take steps to address both issues. Theoretically this is an opportunity for Bayrou. Let's see if he takes it.