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Neighbors of Cherif Kouachi, one of the Paris terror suspects, desribe the 32-year-old as a normal guy. USA TODAY's Kim Hjelmgaard takes us on a tour of Kouachi's former apartment building. VPC
Gennevilliers, on the outskirts of Paris.(Photo: Laura Geisswiller for USA TODAY)
PARIS —One of the two brothers who massacred the staff of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was just a guy from the suburbs here.
But Cherif Kouachi's suburb of Gennevilliers, a sprawling working-class enclave of North Africans and Arabs, is not known for big yards and good schools. Rather it's a breeding ground for disaffection and Islamist extremism.
Now residents of this neighborhood worry that the murderous spree by Cherif, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, who were killed by police Friday, will spark a new backlash against France's large Muslim community and further radicalize many youths here.
"They shouldn't have done it, and I never ran into them, but this whole episode has really disturbed me," said Nicole Lefrans, 55, caretaker of one of the grim concrete apartment buildings that dominate the neighborhood. "I fear for what comes next for France."
USATODAY
Paris terror attacks
Already, incidents of Islamaphobia are on the rise in France. Since Wednesday's attack, several mosques have been firebombed. In Le Mans, southwest of Paris, grenades were thrown into the courtyard of a Muslim place of worship.
On Saturday, the nation remained on high alert and on edge in the wake of deadly attacks by the Kouachis and another homegrown radical Islamist connected to the brothers, Amedy Coulibaly. The trio murdered 17 people in three days. A female companion of Coulibaly remained at large Saturday.
Even before the attacks, the far-right National Front party was tipped to do well in France's next presidential election in 2017. Now the anti-immigration party smells blood.
France has one of the highest Muslim populations in Europe, with close to 6 million, or about 10% of the population. They come from its former colonies across North Africa.
USA TODAY
Paris security tightens amid fears of new attacks
Successive governments have tried and failed to improve conditions in the banlieues — immigrant suburbs that have struggled with poverty, cultural and religious isolation, and an unemployment rate consistently twice the national average. It is currently 20%.
In the Kouachis' banlieue, there was a fresh sense of foreboding that the already wide rift between two parts of French society may get wider.
"I feel like the French people are against us," said Aber, 31, an unemployed Muslim who was born and raised in Paris by parents from Tunisia. Aber asked that his last name be withheld because he fears reprisals or discrimination during his search for employment.
"I disagree with what the Kouachi brothers did, and with their ideas," Aber said. "But I also feel that freedom of speech can't justify everything and I was hurt when Charlie Hebdo published drawings of the prophet Mohammed."
Islam prohibits images of Mohammed, who was ridiculed — as were other religious figures — by the satirical newspaper.
People hold a banner, reading "Muslims of the Basque Coast in Solidarity with the family of the victims, on Saturday during a march of some 20,000 people against terrorism in the southwestern French city of Bayonne.(Photo: Iroz Gaizka, AFP/Getty Images)
Public condemnation of the attacks has been almost universal in France. However, there is also anxiety that more of its native sons could be radicalized to strike against their fellow citizens.
"I can tell you that on a lot of French Muslim minds right now will be the idea that 'a tree that falls makes much more noise than a forest that grows.' " Aber said.
For police, identifying those potential threats may be difficult, if not impossible. Cherif Kouachi was known by authorities to have radical views and had been thwarted from attempting to join other militants fighting in Syria and Iraq.
Yet at the relatively well-appointed brick apartment building where Kouachi lived, neighbors described a quiet, calm man who showed no outward signs of dissatisfaction or anything to suggest the terrorist attack to come.
"Shocked," said Hervé Letumier, 52, a worker at a chemistry lab whose apartment is a few floors down from Kouachi's.
Letumier said he has bought a copy of Charlie Hebdo every Wednesday since he was 20 and believes the weekly personifies the French spirit of Voltaire, the 18th-century philosopher who campaigned for freedom of thought. He was dismayed that the satirical newspaper could provoke such rage.
"These are people who lost their way in society," Letumier said. "They are the black sheep and it is hard for France to take care of them," he added.
Cisse Ibrahim, 33, the secretary-general of a mosque in the Paris suburb of Créteil, said the Muslim community should work with troubled youth and parents to educate them about the tolerant and humane values common to Islam. He also said the government needs to do more to police and monitor potential terrorists.
On Sunday, Ibrahim will take part in a silent vigil in central Paris honoring the victims of the attacks and protesting against violence.
"However, I will not be going as a Muslim," he said. "I will go as a human being and a French citizen."
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