High unemployment, underperforming schools, poor relations with the police, inadequate housing and new immigration laws have created a generation of frustrated youths in rundown areas.
SHOW OF SUPPORT
Wednesday's early morning hospital visit appeared designed to show Sarkozy's support for police and show he would waste no time tackling France's pressing problems after presiding over $30 billion in business deals in China.
"Sarkozy: Beijing-suburbs express" the left-leaning Liberation daily said in a headline.
"It's really he who has to do everything in this country," it said in an editorial, an ironic jibe at the president's hands-on style which has seen him play a greater role than his predecessors in the day-to-day running of France.
Sarkozy was due later on Wednesday to meet the Socialist mayor of Villiers-le-Bel, site of the fatal crash and the initial rioting, before chairing a security meeting on the violence with ministers and the weekly government meeting.
There were isolated incidents in Paris suburbs overnight but the level of violence was sharply down from Monday night when about 80 police officers were injured in clashes with youths throwing petrol bombs and rocks.
Officials said the latest violence was nowhere near the scale of 2005 and was limited to a few areas. But the use of firearms so early in the disturbances has alarmed police.
Sarkozy, elected president in May, has sought to offer non-whites role models in his government, naming Rachida Dati as justice minister and Fadela Amara as junior towns minister -- both women are of North African origin.
