A parallel world

The police killing of a 17-year-old boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent provoked fury from sections of French society who feel trapped by segregation, social inequality, racism and poverty

- Angelique Chrisafis

Hanifa Guermiti cried as she surveyed the charred remains of the public library, which for years had provided books, comics and a quiet homework space for children living in the housing estates of Borny, a neighbourhood in eastern France that is one of the country's most deprived. "My heart is broken," she said, remembering the children she had helped there.

With damage estimated at about €12m ($13m) and more than 110,000 books and documents destroyed, the incineration of the state-of-the-art library in this neighbourhood of the city of Metz was one of the biggest attacks on French state infrastructure in several nights of rioting that spread across the country.

The police shooting of Nahel M, a 17-year-old boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent, at a traffic stop outside Paris last week led to sustained unrest nationwide: more than 2,000 cars burned, 700 businesses damaged and at least 3,000 people arrested, with an average age of 17. Beyond Borny, across to the former mining towns along the German border, cars were torched, bins were set alight and youths clashed with police. A McDonald's was burned down, a kebab shop set on fire, a police station attacked and a school damaged.