Paris e Gaza

Cars torched at liberty's heart as Paris gripped by guerilla warfare

IT is a French revolution in rioting - a war of attrition where the enemy is almost impossible to detect and the weapon is a Molotov cocktail.

Their targets are cars, buses, schools, nurseries, gyms, warehouses and brasseries across Paris and in other cities.

Comparisons with the Gaza Strip are impossible to avoid.

French unrest worsens

On the 10th night of mayhem, about 1 300 vehicles were torched across France overnight on Saturday and 349 people were arrested.

The night before, 900 vehicles were set alight and 250 arrests were made.

French urban unrest hits new high

Urban violence scaled new heights in France as gangs of youths torched cars, shops and firms in the 10th straight night of violence in poor suburbs of Paris and provincial towns, despite heavy police reinforcements.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was to meet police on Sunday afternoon and teachers from tough neighbourhoods to discuss how to respond to youths who have defied all appeals for calm from top officials and exasperated residents.

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Accused of stoking passions by calling troublemakers "scum", Sarkozy has ignored calls to quit. A survey published on Sunday indicated his public image was holding up, even if many disapproved of his strong 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.