PARIS
Racial "apartheid" continues to exist in France, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has stated, as the country struggles to come to terms with the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.
Valls' comments came at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday as he acknowledged the existence of "social, ethnic and regional apartheid" in some parts of the country, in reference to the laws made to discriminate against black people by South Africa's ruling party National Party under its "apartheid" policy during the 1948-1994 era.
Valls said divisions and tensions had again risen among the general population after the Paris attacks two weeks ago shocked the country.
He said: "The latest incidents are a reminder of the 2005 riot in France ... ghettoization still continues."
The 2005 "France riot" was a series of major demonstrations which began after two teenage foreign nationals were electrocuted on a power line as they fled from police.
The riots continued until Nov. 16, weeks after the pair, of Mauritanian and Tunisian origin, were killed on Oct. 27.
At least 12 people were killed on Jan. 7 when Said and Cherif Kouachi opened fire on the staff of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The pair were later killed on Jan. 9 on the outskirts of Paris in a separate hostage incident.
Four other people were also killed in a kosher supermarket and policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe shot dead in Paris by Amedy Coulibaly, who was linked to the Kouachi brothers, before he was killed in a standoff with police also on Jan. 9.
