Police arrested eleven people in the Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois during a fourth consecutive night of rioting following the deaths of two teenagers under unclear circumstances, a police spokesman said yesterday.
Some 150 young residents of the high-rise public housing projects burned cars and trash bins near a mosque, but there were fewer of the direct confrontations with police that marked the preceding three nights after two teenagers were electrocuted while reportedly running away from police.
However, one or several teargas canisters were lobbed into the mosque during the rioting by unknown individuals.
PHOTO: AFP
Police spokesman Jean-Luc Sidot said police were "very probably not" responsible for the teargas, and an investigation had been opened.
Six police officers suffered minor injuries in the disorder.
On Saturday, hundreds of people marched silently through the streets to appeal for calm and protest police actions.
refuge
Many residents of the district, most of whom are immigrants, blame police for not warning the teenagers from taking refuge in a transformer shed belonging to the EDF power company.
However, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and local public prosecutor Francois Molins both said the boys were not being pursued by police officers when they took refuge in the power sub-station.
Sunday, Sarkozy promised firm action against the rioters, telling TF 1 television that "zero tolerance" would be the police policy toward those breaching the peace in the public housing projects.
He also said that an investigation into the deaths of the two teenagers would be carried out and "all the elements made public."
An announced candidate for the 2007 presidential elections, Sarkozy has made law and order and the integration of France's religious minorities and economically underprivileged the cornerstones of his campaign.
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