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# In a Paris suburb, dreams have died, but anger is alive By Jamey Keaton, Associated Press | November 8, 2005 LE BLANC MESNIL, France -- Theirs is a drab life of days spent smoking hashish and hanging out on corners. They fidget and talk big. The only things they have in abundance are time and rancor. Asked what their dreams are, the responses were blank stares. Shouting over one another to be heard, the young toughs vented about their lives in Paris's suburban housing projects, and the rioting setting them ablaze. ''We hate the police," said one teenager. ''It's the start of war," yelled another. ''Put this in your notebook," said a third; he then rattled off a string of obscenities about France's interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy. All French-born children of Arab and African immigrants, teens at Les Tilleuls, a project in this bleak suburb north of Paris, said they were marginalized. Years ago, France welcomed their parents, to do menial jobs that most French did not want. And now, there are no jobs, no one willing to give them one, they said. ''This isn't good for anything," said Farid, 20, angrily shaking his French identity card. He and the others declined to give their surnames, saying they feared repercussions from police or in the community. None of the youths said they had participated in arson attacks, but their sympathies are clearly with the rioters who have shaken France to its core. ''The 'elders' of the projects have tried to calm us down, but we don't care," said 20-year-old Karim, gesticulating wildly with his arms and then concentrating on rolling a joint. He said the rioting has unified various housing projects. The target of their rage is Sarkozy, who angered many in the suburbs by calling them ''scum." ''If they fire Sarkozy, we'll head straight to the police station and pop champagne with them," said Bidou, 22.

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