The French, with their national motto of “liberty, equality, fraternity,” are so against religious and ethnic divisions that the government doesn’t even collect this kind of data on its citizens, but it’s believed that nearly 40 percent of the country’s 7 million Muslims live in and around Paris.
Many live in poor suburban communities known as banlieues., and the residents of these communities have felt increased scrutiny since three young Muslim men, each born and raised in France, killed 17 people in January’s terror attacks in Paris.
The bustling Gare du Nord train station marks the frontier between central Paris and the banlieues, says Andrew Hussey, a British historian who has written about the tensions between France and its black and Arab minorities.
It’s the place where the suburbs of northern Paris — which consist of mainly immigrant, minority populations, who are often very poor — come into contact with the relative affluence and comfort of the city center.
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