Eighty officers were injured in the street battles

As the Paris suburb of Villiers-le-Bel recovers from its second night of clashes between youths and police, French papers wonder if anything has changed since similar street battles across France two years ago.

Commentators see young people being marginalized in French society, having "no future" and being a "forgotten priority".

Questions are also raised about the role of President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was interior minister during the previous rioting in 2005.

What is it that's gone wrong between young people and the state? Why is there so strong a sense of injustice that it easily finds expression in revolt, in insurrection against the symbols of power?... What's changed in the French suburbs since the 2005 riots? For thousands of young people, there's no future.

What really has been done in the last two years to overcome the problem? A devastating report from the Audit Chamber a few weeks ago showed that aid and action were inadequate. Repression is becoming more pronounced but neglect by the local police continues to have an impact. The only difference is that in the meantime the organiser of that policy [Nicolas Sarkozy] has become president.

Is the gap between young people and the police still as great? A depressing repetition of what we've seen too much of already. It would be good if, in order to avoid fanning a poorly extinguished flame, everyone thought about mistakes made in the past. Immediately brandishing the argument about the authorities' culpable failure to do anything smacks of sterile politicking.

What's been done since the 2005 riots to establish equal opportunities and open up the suburbs? Nothing. The same causes have the same effect, with everyone walking on tip-toe afraid to wake the volcano and calling to mind their responsibilities, like Nicolas Sarkozy who, from China, wants "everyone to calm down and let justice determine where responsibility lies". As if he knew, as Chairman Mao said, that "a single spark can start a prairie fire".

The events of the last two nights, even though they are not on a par with those of October-November 2005, remind the government of a forgotten priority. Busy developing wealth in the country since the presidential election - a legitimate ambition, incidentally - France has so far openly neglected a fundamental part of its contemporary identity. It's time France took up the challenge with open eyes if it doesn't want to be rocked sooner or later by dozens of other Villiers-le-Bel.

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