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| Wednesday 09.11.2005, CET 16:00
November 9, 2005 10:20 AM Fresh violence hits France By Kerstin Gehmlich PARIS (Reuters) - 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 on Wednesday that 573 vehicles were set ablaze across the country overnight, down from 860 the night before. One official said the incidents were sporadic. The number of people detained rose to 204 from 151 the night before. 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 recognise 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 on Tuesday. The violence has put fierce pressure on Villepin and President Jacques Chirac, and fears of riots erupting in other European countries have helped push down the value of the euro. French officials are concerned investment and tourism will be hit by the violence. Police in Germany said on Wednesday that a number of cars were set on fire in the German cities of Berlin and Cologne in suspected copycat attacks after the widespread unrest in France. "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. 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. Reuters
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