Rioting raged into Tuesday morning throughout France in a 12th-consecutive night of violence despite a threat of curfews and promises by Prime Minister Dominiqe de Villepin of aid for underprivileged neighborhoods, dpa reported. Nationwide, police sources reported 330 arrests and 1,173 burned cars as well as numerous buildings set on fire, all slightly lower than figures from the weekend peak. The previous night, 1,408 cars were set on fire and nearly 400 arrests were made, police said. The number of officers injured also fell to 12 overnight compared with 36 at the weekend. Early Tuesday, the French cabinet met in an extraordinary session to activate a 1955 law allowing local police authorities to call a state of emergency and impose curfews on minors in tense neighborhoods. The interior ministry announced early Tuesday that Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy would meet with police chiefs in the afternoon to put the emergency measures in place. Outside Paris and in western France, authorities said that the situation was slightly calmer, though violence continued throughout the country. In eastern France, bands of youths hurled Molotov cocktails at cars, buses, schools, a church and a library. Rioters burned about 40 cars late Monday in the greater Lyon area, as 12 people were taken into custody in sporadic violence in France's second-largest city, police said. In the southern city of Toulouse, bus drivers walked off their jobs Tuesday after a bus was commandeered by youths late Monday and set on fire. In the same city, more than 30 cars were torched, and hooded rioters hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at riot police, who responded with teargas. --more 1240 Local Time 0940 GMT
