Smiler, Zigo, Head Blow, and Agent Murphy Speak

Gérard Davet and Piotr Smolar have gone through the police depositions made by members of the Barbarian Gang that viciously tortured Ilan Halami in Bagneux. Meanwhile, it would seem that racist opinions have made headway in France, writes Laetitia Van Eeckhout, who has also interviewed Esther Benbassa and Jean-Christophe Attias. Still, a Le Monde editorial finds reason for… optimism. (It is true that this is nothing on the level of a Hurricane Katrina, n'est-ce pas?)