RIOTING continued across France last night, despite hopes the situation was returning to normal.
Gangs of youths set schools ablaze and torched cars prompting the government to propose the extension of the country's state of emergency by three months.
There was some hope for police, though - the number of car torchings dropped sharply, with youths last night setting fire to 284 vehicles, compared with 374 the previous night.
"The lull is confirmed," national police spokesman Patrick Hamon said.
A week ago, 1,400 cars were incinerated in a single night.
In scattered attacks last night, vandals in the southern city of Toulouse rammed a car into a primary school before setting the building on fire.
In northern France, arsonists set fire to a sports centre in the suburb of Faches-Thumesnil and a school in the town of Halluin.
A gas canister exploded inside a burning dustbin in the Alpine city of Grenoble, injuring two police officers. Three other officers
were injured in the rest of the country.
115 people were taken into custody last night, police said. Since the beginning of the unrest, 2,767 people have been arrested.