March 22, 2006
One third of French people say that they are racist, a survey by a human rights organization shows. The study by a French human rights watchdog found an increase from last year in the number of people who acknowledged being racist. Some 33 per cent of the 1,000 people surveyed face-to-face said they were "somewhat" or "a little" racist, 8 percentage points higher than last year, according to the annual report by the National Consultative Commission for Human Rights. The poll revealed deep economic and social anxiety, Joel Thoraval, the Commission's president, said in a press release. Despite the efforts deployed to fight racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia there was still a long way to go. The report, presented to Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, was conducted in November 2005, immediately after several weeks of rioting in poor suburbs around the country.
