It is a sunny day in Belleville, a harmonious neighbourhood in northern Paris known for its Arab, African and Chinese immigrant population.
But the mood on the streets is sombre. The abduction of two French journalists in Iraq and the kidnappers' demand that France repeal a ban on Muslim headscarves in state schools has touched a raw nerve.
'They are just journalists doing their job,' says a 30-year-old Algerian mother watching her children play on the swings.
'I saw their parents on the television earlier and it made me shudder. The terrorists are using a cause that does not concern them. The headscarf law is a subject that concerns France alone.'
Although she and others were happy to speak their minds, they were scared to give their full names for fear of reprisals.
Journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot were kidnapped on August 20 by the Islamic Army in Iraq, which is demanding France rescind the law banning the wearing of all 'conspicuous' religious insignia in public schools. The law takes effect today.
On the Rue du Faubourg du Temple - named after a nearby Jewish synagogue - Nadia wears her headscarf and pushes a pram. Her disapproval of the kidnapping is just as vehement.