Arson, rioting and killing has sweept France and left the world bewildered.
The country that gave birth to lofty ideals of humanism -- Liberty, Equality, Fraternity -- is facing questions it has perhaps never faced since the Bastille fell, 216 years ago, and the French Revolution marked an important step in human evolution.
Hell broke loose when 15-year-old Bouna Traore and 17-year-old Zyed Benna were electrocuted at a power station while fleeing from the police. A third teenager was injured. The incident provided the spark to the tinderbox of loathing and anti-government feelings in the suburban ghettos of Paris.
The rioters gather at night, set government establishments, shops, cars, trash cans -- anything and everything -- afire and scoot. Anyone who tries to douse the fires is attacked. One man has been killed and an elederly woman was set on fire.
French President Jacques Chirac has declared a state of emergency. The last time such a measure was declared was during France's war in Algeria in 1955. Hundreds of rioters have been arrested. But there seems to be not let-up in the arson.
Image: Damaged cars in a Renault garage in the northern Paris suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois, after it was set ablaze overnight.
Photograph: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty Images
Also Read:
Uttam's Take: Is Paris Burning?
Why France is burning