France spends a night of relative calm-but cars still burn

A car burns in the city of Strasbourg in Eastern France but the Urban violence which has raged across the country for the past 14 nights looks to be on the wane. Two weeks of unrest in poor surburbs around France have rattled the conservative government and prompted prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to invoke a 50-year-old law allowing local government officials to impose curfews.

Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy was once again embroiled in controversy after telling parliament that 120 foreigners convicted of taking part in the unrest would be expelled from country even if they held residence permits. As many as 2,033 people have been detained as a result of the riots which began on October 27.The sudden explosion of violence in France and fears of copycat actions across the continent has hit the euro hard and damaged France’s image abroad.

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