Last week's long-awaited trial focused on a single event in a specific Paris suburb, but the tensions that emerged in testimony echoed similar standoffs from Ferguson, Missouri, to London and Stockholm, between largely white police forces and non-white youths. The French police officers stand accused of contributing to the deaths, but insist they're not to blame. Since the 2005 riots, successive French governments have invested millions in renovation efforts of troubled "banlieues," or suburbs. Concern resurged after three radical Islamic Frenchmen from similar neighborhoods killed 17 people in January in the country's worst terrorist attacks in decades. The national tensions formed the backdrop to the trial last week in Rennes, in western France, where 41-year-old Sebastien Gaillemin and 38-year-old Stephanie Klein faced charges of failing to assist a person in danger. Klein, an inexperienced police intern struggling with the tense situation, is accused of having heard Gaillemin's phrase on the police radio and failing to alert anyone that the youths might be in danger. The judge asked Muhittin Altun, now 26, "Since you didn't do anything wrong, then why did you start running" from police? "Because the others were running," Altun responded.