Hit-and-run arson attacks escalated in Paris suburbs as the government met to work out a response to nine nights of urban violence that has spawned copycat unrest in major towns.
A policeman stands near a burning dustbin in Paris last night
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin summoned eight key ministers and a top Muslim official to his offices on Saturday as he sought to chart an end to violence.
Overnight, rioters burnt almost 900 vehicles in the Paris region and large provincial cities like Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Pau, Rennes, Toulouse and Lille, the highest total since unrest sparked by the deaths of two youths apparently fleeing police.
Police arrested 258 suspects and drafted in a helicopter in the Paris region to film events. While fewer clashes with youths were reported, judicial officials said the unrest was being organised via the Internet and mobile phones.
The violence has been seen as the expression of pent-up anger by youths, many Muslims of North African and black African origin, at police treatment, racism, unemployment and their marginal place in French society.
"Violence is not a solution," Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, accused of stoking passions by calling troublemakers "scum", told reporters after the Villepin meeting.
"Once the crisis is over, everyone will have to understand there are a certain number of injustices in some neighbourhoods. We are trying to be firm and avoid any provocation. We have to avoid any risk of explosion," he said.
After nine nights of wailing sirens, acrid smoke, stone-throwing and destruction, residents from all ethnic backgrounds are tiring of the unrest.
In Aulnay-sous-Bois, a rundown suburb of 80,000 inhabitants northeast of Paris, several thousand residents, some singing the national anthem, marched past burnt out vehicles behind a "No To Violence, Yes To Dialogue" banner.
"It's a sign that the laws of the republic apply to everyone and that we will not give in to violence," said mayor Gerard Gaudron, a member of the governing UMP party.