http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501515_pf.htmlRead this article to get a good understanding of the situation and its origins.
It has more to do with poverty than religion, the majority of these rampaging youths do not have much faith, they usually spend their time high on hash just hanging about.
This is a cry of frustration and they see the possibility of being heard, these people are normally marginalized, kept in their concrete ghettos with no job and no future, their situation is not unlike that of many black americans living in urban areas; run down housing, no job opportunities and a prevalent drug and crime culture stemming from the lack of any foreseeable change in their lives and the society around them.
As for turning to the right, the racist and extreme right party the national front in France is already very strong obtaining in some elections close to 20%.
If you had read the comments made by the French prime minister last night you would have realized that the measures he proposes are far from being to the right. His measures are socialistic in nature, his aim is to use the infrastructure of the state to help those who need it the most.
The last two weeks are actually pushing the rightist government of Chirac to move to the left in its policies. This is not a new problem, this kind of incident has been predicted for the last 20 years and yet nothing was ever done to solve it. The government must take its share of the blame for what is happening now.
I hope that the events of the last two weeks will actually lead other European nations with large numbers of immigrants to face up to their problems.