France's communities minister has triggered a debate over his claims that there are 100 neighbourhoods in the country comparable to Molenbeek, the Brussels district that spawned many of the jihadists behind recent attacks in Europe, reports Yahoo! News.
The minister, Patrick Kanner, had made the comment on Sunday, saying "there are today, we know, around 100 neighbourhoods in France that show similar potential to what happened in Molenbeek."
He claimed the high number of radicalised youths in Molenbeek was linked to "an enormous concentration of poverty and unemployment... a mafia system with an underground economy... where public services have disappeared".
It recalled comments by French prime minister Manuel Valls a year ago when he spoke of "territorial, social and ethnic apartheid" in many suburbs in the aftermath of the January 2015 attacks in Paris.
The right-wing opposition has welcomed such views from the Socialist-led government. while others dispute the link between poverty and radicalisation.
"For once we have a minister, Mr. Kanner, who has lifted the veil of blindness that covers the eyes and mouth, that is speaking a truth clearly..." said Florian Philippot, one of the main leaders of the far-right National Front party.
But experts say such views only serve to stigmatise working-class areas