As opposed to, say, stabbing them to death for dating an infidel.
"Some parents even blame the recent riots on a French law that prohibits them from hitting their kids, which they say renders them powerless to assert control"
There is no French law against spanking.
There is not even a law against teachers spanking children. And they DO.
There is a law in France against CHILD ABUSE (as in: battering children with fists, whipping them, etc.).
So, the whole pretext here: "We can't hit our kids, therefore we are powerless", in the context of a country where spanking is legal and widely used, is "We can't beat our kids nearly to death, and this renders us powerless."
Presumably because you can beat your kids to death in some countries, but not France.
There is another phantom idea out there making the rounds on this thread that France is like Sweden, where all spanking is outlawed.
France is nothing like Sweden.