French President Jacques Chirac called for calm Wednesday, warning that lawlessness and further rioting in Paris suburbs would lead to a dangerous situation.

"Tempers must calm down. The law must be applied in a spirit of dialogue and respect," Chirac said after French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy briefed him on the situation in the wake of six nights of riots in the southeast of Paris since last Thursday.

"A lack of dialogue and an escalation of disrespectful behavior would lead to a dangerous situation," Chirac was quoted by his spokesman Jean-Francois Cope.

The head of state intervened after the ongoing incident unveiled integration difficulties of young immigrants in some 300 French cities.

Chirac ordered government officials to hand in within one month proposals to enhance equality and prevent delinquency.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin postponed his trip to Canada and called an emergency meeting of cabinet ministers working on measures preventing violence in sensitive areas.

The French government is pressured by opposition partes, such as the French Communist Party and the Socialist Party, to establish an inquiry commission and disclose exact and exhaustive information.

Paris police reported more than 150 fires overnight, most of which involved burning cars and garbage cans. Throughout the Seine- Saint-Denis area, some 60 vehicles were torched.

The riots began first on Thursday and Friday nights in Clichy- sous-Bois, home to immigrants from Muslim North Africa, in northeast Paris, where two local teenagers, Ziad, 17, and Banou, 15, were electrocuted Thursday while they were running away from police.

Local people said the police's rough ways in pursuing suspects and dealing with the unrest, which smack of racial discrimination, stirred up the tension.

Source: Xinhua