France's Streets of Fire

Our report on how years of hopelessness and alienation erupted in rage and fiery protests, rocking France's neighborhoods, moved some readers to deplore the violence of the young rioters. But others were sharply critical of the government's blindness and the insensitivity of French society

Re your reporting on violent protests in France [Nov. 14]: The rioters, who are mostly Arab or black, may also be French, although they say they don't feel as if they are treated like "real" French citizens. But what is a French citizen? France is in the middle of a deep national identity crisis....