New violence hits France despite emergency laws
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-09 10:55

Youths threw Molotov cocktails at police and torched cars in several French cities and towns in a 13th night of violence, ignoring the government's imposition of rarely used emergency laws.

Police said at least 190 cars were set ablaze on Tuesday night and that 70 people had been arrested, but an official said the incidents were sporadic and seemed less violent than on Monday night when more than 1,000 cars went up in flames.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin invoked a 1955 law on states of emergency in a bid to stamp out the unrest, which has involved white youths as well as French-born citizens of Arab or African origin protesting against racism and unemployment.

Several towns imposed a curfew from midnight.

"France is wounded. It cannot recognize itself in its streets and devastated areas in these outbursts of hatred and violence which destroy and kill," Villepin told the lower house of parliament.

The violence has put fierce pressure on Villepin and President Jacques Chirac, and fears of riots erupting in other European countries helped push down the value of the euro, which at one point hit a two-year low against the dollar.

French officials are concerned investment and tourism will be hit by the violence.

"BLIND VIOLENCE"

"Of course there's poverty. Of course there's unemployment," Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said on a visit to the southwestern city of Toulouse, where youths threw Molotov cocktails at police on Tuesday night.

"Many people living in these neighbourhoods suffer. But nothing can excuse such useless, such blind violence like we saw," Sarkozy told police officers.

On Tuesday night, a bus was set ablaze near the southwestern city of Bordeaux and isolated acts of violence broke out in other regions.

"There was a marked decrease (in violence) during the first half of the night," a police spokesman said. "But we will have to see what the rest of the night will be like."

Villepin said 1,500 police would be brought in to back up the 8,000 officers already deployed in areas hit by violence, widely seen as the most serious unrest since protests in 1968.

Under the 1955 law, the government gave regional government officials the power to impose curfews and authorise day or night-time searches without a judge's order.

In several French towns, such as Amiens in the north, youths were not allowed to walk the streets unaccompanied until 6 a.m. They were also prohibited from buying fuel in an effort to stop them from making Molotov cocktails, officials said.

Villepin has promised measures to help young people in poor suburbs find jobs and to improve education opportunities.

But opposition parties have said the government has not done enough, and some have called for Sarkozy's resignation.