Chinese immigrants to France attacked in Paris

Mr Shi says people are terrified of being assaulted. "Our problem isn't so much that money or phones are being stolen, it's the violence we can't stand." Many Parisians are shocked that the attacks are happening, not in the notoriously violent suburbs - the banlieue - but in the city itself. Hamou Bouakkaz, a deputy mayor of Paris, says things have degenerated in the past two years following the economic downturn. "Belleville was a very universal melting-pot, but the government has cut budgets allocated to integration, to security," Mr Bouakkaz said. Mr Shi showed me photographs of people who had been mugged. One was of a woman, with bruised eyes, cuts on her face and a blood-soaked dress. Another showed a man with cuts around his eyes. He also produced a thick sheaf of copies of police reports of muggings. There were more than 80, covering a period of less than a year. But many victims do not report attacks to the police, because they are illegal immigrants or cannot speak French well. Those who do report muggings say the perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. The police declined to comment on this. Community worker Dominique Dardel, a member of the neighbourhood council, says the long-term solution is not more police on the streets. "Those who carry out these muggings usually grow up spending a lot of time on the streets," he said. "Early on they realise that society isn't really offering them a future. The schools have to change their approach to these kids and convince them that they can have a future. That's the key." But for now, victims like Mr Shi say the muggings are getting more violent, and they are fed up with living in fear.