Roundup: France vows to restore "order and justice" over riot-hit suburbs

France has vowed to restore "order and justice" Thursday at the release of an interim report on the electrocution deaths of two teenage boys, the root cause of the week-long violence in Paris suburbs.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told the Senate on Thursday: "Order and justice will be the final word." The republic "will not give in."

Calm seems to be returning after riots erupted in the Paris suburbs Thursday and spread to several other departments ringing the French capital.

In the low-income region of Seine-Saint-Denis northeast of the capital, more than 1,000 police were witnessed in position to tighten security early Friday after Villepin took the hardened stance.

For seven straight nights, hundreds of vehicles have bore the brunt of flame of anger.

On Wednesday night alone, at least 315 cars went up in flames in dozens of towns to the north, east, west and south of Paris, a fire service spokesman said.

Many Parisians believe the troubles were triggered by the deaths of two teenagers in Clichy-sous-Bois on Thursday. The boys were electrocuted in a power substation where they hid to escape police officers who they thought were chasing them. A third boy was injured but survived.

Clichy-sous-Bois is in the suburbs that ring France's big cities and home to immigrants often from Muslim North Africa. Its soaring unemployment and alleged discrimination against these immigrants have aroused great dissatisfaction.

While determined to restore order and justice, Villepin acknowledged that people living in high-immigrant areas need security, recognition, hope, respect and future, promising further help with the youths in those areas in seeking jobs.

The government also presented its initial report on an investigation into the deaths of the two teens, identified respectively as Bouna Traore, 15, born in Mauritania, and Zyed Benna, 17, of Tunisian origin.

The report indicated the boys had known of the dangers before hiding out in the power substation.

Citing the third young man who was badly injured, Muttin Altun, 17, of Turkish descent, it said the three in question were among a group of boys who had finished playing football and entered a building site. The three fled when police arrived and then scrambled into the power substation to hide.

The report came after families of the victims filed a legal complaint Tuesday for "failure to assist a person in danger," a crime in France.

"We want the truth to come out," Amor Benna, father of Zyed Benna, told reporters, adding that they "want to know if a mistake was made by security (police) or not."

Source: Xinhua