Sarkozy's plan takes back seat during crisis

Mohammed El Rhazi, a worker at mattress-maker Dunlopillo, calls the credit crisis the "new plague" in his impoverished Paris suburb of Mantes-la-Jolie, after riots tore through there in 2005.

"French suburbs are hit by this global crisis like everyone else," said the 43-year-old father of four, whose company is under court protection since its parent faced a cash shortage. "The difference is that our suburbs carry scars. The crisis comes on top of an open wound."

Three years ago this month, young people in poor French neighborhoods rioted for 21 days, burning cars and destroying property. The violence in those areas - with large immigrant populations packed into concrete high-rise buildings and youth unemployment of about 40 percent - prompted President Nicolas Sarkozy to create a plan to revive the suburbs, known as "banlieues" in French.