French President Jacques Chirac urged calm and dialogue Wednesday after a sixth night of unrest in poor Paris suburbs that has triggered a damaging public row between ministers in France's conservative government.

Street fighting, sparked by the deaths of two teenagers electrocuted while apparently fleeing police during a local disturbance, spread to other parts of the poor suburbs ringing the capital to the north and the east, police said.

The unrest has highlighted increasingly bitter rivalry between Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and his deputy Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister, ahead of 2007 presidential elections.

"The law must be firmly applied and in a spirit of dialogue and respect," government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope quoted Chirac as telling the weekly cabinet meeting.

Villepin later summoned eight ministers to a special meeting on problem neighbourhoods in an effort to rein in squabbling ministers and deflect opposition charges of drift.

A heavy police presence kept a tense order in Clichy-sous-Bois as disturbances broke out in previously quiet areas. A total of 34 people were detained by police overnight.

The unrest in the northern and eastern suburbs, heavily populated by North African and black African minorities, was fuelled by youths' frustration at their failure to get jobs and recognition in French society.

Source: China Daily