Banlieue
banlieue · also Suburban youth
French for the mainly residential urban belt around a city centre. In the forum debates it is often used when blaming the riots on suburban youth.
Literally, a banlieue is the urban belt surrounding a "central city," also called the "first ring." It is mainly residential but may include commercial areas, and some banlieues are separate municipalities in their own right.
In French online discussions, "suburban youth" is often used as shorthand for those responsible for riots. The jeuxvideo.com discussions read by this site contained a great deal of such blame; comments with ethnic or hateful overtones are not quoted in this article.
Sources
- Banlieue (Wikipedia (French), accessed 2026-10-22)
In our stories
On the far right, Le Pen blamed delinquents from the banlieues, and National Rally president Jordan Bardella demanded that antifa and Black Bloc groups be designated terrorist organisations.
Who is to blame? The government, LFI and a leak →
The board also carried many posts blaming immigrants and youths from the banlieues, a good number of them in racialised, hateful language that we do not quote.
jeuxvideo.com: "The riots are a gift to the far right" →
Related entries
Last updated 2026-10-22 · Suggest a correction