More vehicles burned in French unrest
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-11-11 17:24

More vehicles were set alight in suburban violence in France after President Jacques Chirac said the country needed to learn lessons from two weeks of unrest.

Rioters torched 463 cars in France overnight and police made 201 arrests, figures nearly identical to the previous night, the national police said Friday.

Overnight Thursday 482 cars were torched and 203 people arrested.

At the peak of the trouble on Sunday night some 1,400 vehicles had been torched and 395 people arrested across the country.

Arson was suspected in a fire that destroyed a village hall south of the French capital overnight, but no one was hurt, police and firefighters said.

Appearing publicly for the second time since rioting began, Chirac said the "re-establishment of order is for me an absolute priority... which has not yet been achieved."

"When the time comes and order has been established, it will be necessary to draw all the consequences from this crisis and do it with much courage and lucidity," the president told journalists.

Chirac, who has been criticised for taking a back seat, said it was time for "reflection, which I shall devote to explaining to my fellow citizens what my feelings are on this crisis and the means to remedy it."

"Whatever our origins we are all children of the republic. We can all claim the same rights but must of course all accept the same duties," he said.

In Paris, 2,220 police officers were to secure Armistice commemorations marking the 87th anniversary of the end of World War I on the Champs-Elysees which will be attended by Chirac and Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie in the morning.

Calm gradually returned to French cities following introduction of a state of emergency and curfew Tuesday in some 30 towns and cities, where unaccompanied children under 16 were ordered to stay at home as the government struggled to contain the car-burnings, arson attacks and rioting mostly by young Arab and black residents of poor out-of-town estates.

The curfew was still in effect in five regions Friday.

Meanwhile, eight police officers were suspended pending results of an investigation into an alleged assault on a young man in a Paris suburb, the interior ministry said.

Commenting on the suspension, an interior ministry spokesman said there was evidence that "two officers inflicted blows on the man in an illegal manner and that six others witnessed the incident."

The assault on Monday was filmed by a news crew from state-owned France 2 television channel, who have handed their footage to investigators, a police official said. France 2 broadcast the pictures late Thursday.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said he would not permit any police excesses.

Controversy also continued to surround a call by the tough-talking Sarkozy for foreigners convicted of acts of violence during the troubles to be deported -- a measure denounced by left-wing parties and campaigning groups as a breach of human rights.

On Tuesday, the government of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin outlined a twin-track initiative to defuse the unrest, invoking a 50-year-old law that authorises curfews and house-to-house searches and at the same unveiling a classic package of social assistance to help the stricken areas.

Meanwhile Sarkozy said on television Thursday he had no regrets about his inflammatory references to young troublemakers as "rabble," a remark that has caused a wave of protest and controversy.

"When I say they are rabble, that's what they call themselves," the minister stressed. "Let's stop calling them youngsters. If you call hoodlums 'youngsters' you risk making generalisations about young people."

Finance Minister Thierry Breton meanwhile told Britain's Financial Times business daily Friday that France could lift restrictions on service industries and business start-ups to create jobs in the riot-hit suburbs.

He said that although the package of measures would be limited to special areas, the plans could be a proving ground for wider reform of the rigid French labour market.

Breton said he would present the prime minister with a batch of fresh ideas once the violence dies down.

He said he did not think foreign investors would be put off by the images of vehicles being torched and Molotov cocktails being hurled at police.

He will seek to reassure foreigners during visits abroad over the coming weeks, he added.

The violence was sparked by the accidental deaths of two teenagers electrocuted while hiding from police in an electrical sub-station.