Ramadan festivities unite the residents of the Paris "Belleville" district

France is home to Europe’s largest Muslim population, estimated at between five and six million people. The majority of these live in the French capital, Paris, where Ramadan makes a real difference. The holy month is a joyous time of fellowship, worship and reflection. In multicultural neighbourhoods, it’s also an opportunity for people from different religious backgrounds to mix.

The district of Belleville is packed with food stalls selling dates, olives, pyramids of honey, almond and pistachio pastries, and other oriental delicacies. Ali, from Tunisia, turns his restaurant into a bakery during Ramadan. He said the holy month is for everybody to enjoy.

“I have customers who are Jewish, Catholic and Muslim. They all come here to buy my pastries,” he said. “We live together - we are against the war - we live in France and we’re all the same.”

In the middle of the afternoon Arlette sat earing fish and salad at the Tunisian restaurant, “Délices de Kifolie” In other words, she wasn’t fasting. Arlette is a Jewish woman from Tunisia. She arrived in Belleville forty years ago, and loves the atmosphere in the district.

“It’s nice, it’s always nice,” she said, and points out the people coming out to buy food for their evening meal. “They’re waiting for the moon, and when it finally appears they start eating, it’s nice.”

She added that everyone in the district are brothers and sisters. “We wish everybody a happy holiday, whether they’re French, Jewish or Arab,” she said.

Mohammed’s stand is popular with the shoppers, and the owner proudly shows off all his wares.

“So we have all the ingredients necessary to prepare soup. We have sweets and pastries with dry fruit. Early in the morning, it’s best to drink fermented milk and dates, and in the evening when we break the fast, it’s best to drink a glass of hot milk. Theny you wait for fifteen minutes, and then start eating soup and a nice meal.”

Mohammad is interrupted by two policemen checking that he had the City Council documents to sell products outside his shop.

“It’s normal, it’s the French republican law”, Mohammed said.

But a couple of blocks further down the boulevard de Belleville, other street sellers are furious with the police. Ahmed said it was normal to see police cars arrive for no reason at all.

“They treat us like animals, they provoking us. Ramadan is a month of peace for us, but it’s the police that’s looking for trouble, not us,” he said.

The police don’t necessarily need to take out their cans of teargas to verify documents, but many people in Belleville would disapprove of Ahmed’s anti-semitic comments. His stand was near the Rue Jean Pierre Timbaud mosque, which is often described as a hive of fundamentalism.

Fifty year old Mohammed and his nine year old daughter stand in front of the “Tawhid” bookshop. Mohammed become emotional when speaking of celebrating Ramadan in Belleville.

“We left our country a long time ago,” he said. “It’s true that walking through Belleville is like going back to our roots. There are mosques, it’s important because we mustn’t forget our culture and our religion, especially now that the Pope is defying us, many politicians are defying us! So it’s important that we go back to our roots.”

Down the road, Frank runs the Cafe Bleu cafe. He’s from the Carribean, and isn’t Muslim. The bar serves hot drinks at night during the month of Ramadan, because there are so many Muslims coming past.

“We are also allowed to stay open all night. We’re not a Muslim café but since we’re at the heart of the neighbourhood, we’re entitled to the special Ramadan licence, which is good news for our regular customers,” explained Frank.

He enjoys the diversity of customers he sees in his bar.

“We have moderate Muslims coming in, and we talk about all sorts of things together. That’s what neighbourhood life is all about, meeting different people and mixing all the different cultures, peacefully.”

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