As rioting in France spreads from Paris to other cities, the nature of the event changes dramatically.  If it was ever about the two boys who died in the power substation, it is clearly not any more.  The nature of the change can be seen in an oblique fashion from this report at the Washington Post:

"This is the first time (suburban violence) has lasted so long and the government appears taken aback at the magnitude," said Pascal Perrineau, director of the Center for Study of French Political Life.

There were "few direct clashes" with security forces late Thursday and early Friday, however, no bullets fired at police, and far fewer large groups of rioters, said Jean-Francois Cordet, the top government official in Seine-Saint-Denis.

Instead, Cordet said, the unrest in Seine-Saint-Denis was led by "numerous small and highly mobile groups" that burned 187 vehicles and five buildings, including three warehouses.

Other reports like that at Netscape News have the reports of property damage  higher:

Some 220 vehicles were set alight around the city, especially in the restive northern suburbs at the epicentre of the troubles which have left authorities powerless despite the deployment of hundreds of riot police since last week.

A hundred people were evacuated overnight from two apartment blocks in that region when one arson attack set dozens of cars in an underground garage on fire.

Two textile warehouses and a car showroom were also set on fire to the northeast of the city.

There are reports of riots in other cities but I have not seen any hard figures.  The closest I have found is this report at Reuters:

Out of a total of 152 vehicles reported burned nationally, less than half were in the greater Paris region, with about a dozen or more cars set alight in each of Strasbourg, in east of France, Rennes in the west, and Toulouse in southwestern France.
…
Rioters in Paris suburbs appeared more inclined to harass police than clash with them head on, an official said.

Whatever the exact total, the tactics of the insurgents has changed.  The mob has gotten organized, no longer mindlessly facing off with the police but instead coordinating activities to cause more economic damage, as described in the reports above.  There is this nugget from the same Netscape News article:

(Interior Minister) Sarkozy later made a surprise visit to a police command centre west of Paris, telling officers: "Arrests — that’s the key."

He urged them to get more information on those causing the trouble "so we can better understand how they’re organised, because they are organised."

And this from the Washington Post story:

Sevran residents said the attackers would ignite one car, and before firefighters could douse the flames, move on to torch another vehicle several streets away. Their mobility leaves remnants of destruction scattered throughout the city.

So what is going on?  What is the goal?  Is there a plan to these activities, is there a coordinator orchestrating the campaign?  Is it just a bunch of ‘french youth’ using cell phones to coordinate some vandalism in expressions of rage and enjoying this new game they find they can get away with?  Or is it something far darker, the orchestrated goading of the government into some sort of incident that will radicalize a large portion of the Muslim population in France and abroad?

We don’t know.  Not yet.  While there is property damage and violence so far, there has not yet been the sort of outright bloodshed that marks a combat zone.  The police have been shot at, reportedly a few times, but nobody hurt.  The police are shooting rubber bullets, if any.  Both sides are holding back, though the gunfire may have been attempts at provocation to a slaughter.

I do not envy the French government.  They are caught now in an almost impossible situation.  They do not have the police forces to clamp down enough in a non-lethal way to stop the riots.  So they spread.  But if they use the deadly force necessary to put a stop to these things, they may cause the very revolt they most fear.

Americans should be very familiar with this, our own revolt from Great Brittain began with the Boston Massacre.  Our own Founding Fathers masterfully promoted descriptions of the event to inflame the colonials and begin the Revolution.  Mao and other communist theorists have published books discussing the need to force the government into harsher and harsher acts in order to turn the people against them and thus gain aid in the fight against that government.  Classic propoganda.

On the other hand, if the French ‘appease’ the rioters as some in the government have publicly called for there will be no end to it.  The government is already short of resources and facing massive overspending on social programs in the years to come, adding more promises that they can’t possibly keep will only backfire.  Also in their alienated state, it is more likely than not that having a taste of success that the rioters will do it again to see what they can get for it.  What have they to lose?  And in appeasing the rioters they may end up agreeing to restrictions on policing that guarantee safe harbor to exactly the sort of armed extremists who really will start killing at some point, if not try to take over at some not so distant point in the future.

The choices at this point are grim.  For my part I wish them the best of luck, and wisdom.

Note:  The best roundup I have seen thus far is found at Michelle Malkin’s blog, at the link here.