Chirac chairs security talks as French riots worsen

France's urban riots reached a new peak in their 10th night as petrol bombings spread from Paris's run-down suburbs to the center of the capital and began to unnerve neighboring countries.

President Jacques Chirac summoned his security, social affairs and finance ministers to an emergency meeting to plot a response after 1,300 vehicles were destroyed in the latest night of chaos.

Chirac said after the meeting restoring order was the top priority after 10 nights of rolling riots that have shaken the country.

"The absolute priority is to re-establish security and public order," Chirac told reporters in his first public comments on the rioting.

"The law must have the last word. The Republic is quite determined, by definition, to be stronger than those who want to sow violence or fear," he added.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told journalists that the government would step up security around the country wherever it was needed: "We cannot accept any 'no-go' areas."

Villepin said he would announce his plans for the country's underprivileged suburbs on national television on Monday.

Chirac has mainly left public action to his prime minister and interior minister - who have so far found no way beyond appeals and more police to control an explosion of unrest with complex social, economic and racial causes.

Aides said Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin would make "concrete proposals" on tackling tough neighborhoods.

Rioting began 10 days ago with the accidental electrocution of two youths apparently fleeing police. Their deaths ignited frustration among ethnic minorities over racism, unemployment, police treatment and their marginal place in French society.

"This is too much, stop! Stop, do something else, but not this, not violence," sobbed a woman in Evreux, a normally quiet town in rural Normandy where a shopping mall, 50 vehicles, a post office and two schools were destroyed overnight.

"My wife's out of a job now," fumed another resident. "I've two kids, a house to pay for and a car loan. What do I do now?"

1,300 CARS BURN

Across France, 1,300 vehicles went up in flames. For the first time, more than 30 were destroyed inside the city walls of Paris. Previously quiet towns such as Dreux, to the west, and the city of Nantes were also affected.

Authorities say drug traffickers and Islamist militants are helping to organize the unrest, via the internet and mobile phones, among the North and black African immigrant communities who make up a significant part of many poor suburban housing estates.

Police have drafted 2,300 extra officers to tackle the unrest in the capital, and seven helicopters buzzed over the region through the night, filming disturbances and directing mobile squads to incidents.

Officers made 349 arrests, including six youths who had manufactured a stock of 90 Molotov cocktails in a disused police building south of the capital.

The violence has tarnished France's image abroad, forcing Villepin to cancel a trip to Canada, while Russia and the United States have warned their citizens to avoid troubled suburbs.

Neighboring Germany, too, has a large immigrant population, including over 3 million Muslims - most of Turkish origin.

Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy leader of the conservative Christian Democrats in parliament, told a Sunday newspaper:

"There are differences between the situation in France and here, but we should not be under the illusion that similar events could not happen in Germany."

In Italy, opposition leader Romano Prodi called on the government to take urgent action, telling reporters:

"We have the worst suburbs in Europe. I don't think things are so different from Paris. It's only a question of time."

"FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP"

French Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande said the riots were a failure of government policy and leadership.

"Where is the president when such serious events are taking place?" he asked, noting Chirac had won re-election in 2002 by attacking the then-governing Socialists' record on law and order.

Jean-Marie Huet, a senior Justice Ministry official, said 160 people had been brought before the courts since the unrest started. Around 20 had been jailed, 30 others released on bail, and 50 minors had been brought before juvenile courts.

Communist and Green Party officials demanded one symbolic measure, the resignation of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who is challenging to replace Chirac in 2007.

Sarkozy, accused by opponents of stoking the unrest by calling troublemakers "scum", maintained his tough line on Saturday, saying the government stood by its demand for an end to the violence.

"Those who commit such actions will have to account for them before the law," he told reporters.

A poll published on Sunday indicated his public image was holding up, even if many disapproved of his language.

Villepin also has ambitions to be the right wing's presidential candidate in 2007 and has tried to position himself as a much more consensual figure than Sarkozy. The effect on the crisis on his ratings is still unclear.

- REUTERS