French President Jacques Chirac called a crisis meeting of top cabinet ministers on Sunday, vowing to restore order and punish those who want to "sow violence of fear".

"Those who want to sow violence of fear, they will be arrested, judged and punished," Chirac said after the meeting, adding the absolute priority of today is "restoring security and public order ".

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who attended the emergency meeting along with Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, said more police would be deployed where troubles flared and there would be "a reinforcement of security forces anywhere in the country if it is necessary".

"We will not accept any lawless zone," Villepin noted.

According to the French newspaper Le Journal de Dimanche, Villepin said he was "preparing to announce emergency measures to try to stop the violence".

Villepin and Sarkozy both canceled their foreign trip this week because of the riots.

The violence was sparked on October 27 after the accidental electrocution of two teenagers in an electrical sub-station who tried to flee a police identity check in Clichy-sous-bois, northeast Paris suburb. Since then, rioting has spread to 200 city suburbs and towns, including Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Lille, Rennes, Rouen, Bordeaux and Montpellier, and central Paris, police said.

Till Sunday more than 800 people have been arrested and 3,500 vehicles torched.

Police helicopters fitted with cameras and searchlights are being used to pursue youths who started the fires and then race away on scooters.

No one has been reported killed till now in the unrest.

Four Chinese injured

Four young Chinese women were injured and six warehouses owned by Chinese were burnt down in French unrest that has continued unabated for 10 days.

The four, one from Beijing and the others from Taiwan, suffered burns and injuries in a blaze at University of Franche-Comte in the east of France last Thursday, China News Service reported.

One woman from Taiwan had burns on 80 per cent of her body while another had broken bones after jumping from the third floor to escape the fire.

Sources at a local hospital said that injuries to the Beijing woman, aged about 20, "were not very serious."

The fire left one person dead and 15 injured.

Local police confirmed the fire as arson but said: "It's not clear whether it is linked to the current unrest," which has reached central Paris from the suburbs.

Xinhua reported that the violence led to huge losses for Chinese businesses in France. Since Friday, six warehouses owned by Chinese have been razed.

Counsellor Yu Chengtao at the Chinese Embassy in Paris has been in talks with French police, seeking safety and protection for Chinese citizens and their property.

Ten nights of urban unrest have seen thousands of arson attacks on cars, nursery schools and others.

On Saturday night, gangs of youths torched 1,300 vehicles in Paris' poor suburbs and major French towns, despite the deployment of thousands of extra police. Cars were burned out in the historic centre of Paris for the first time the same night.

Some 2,300 police poured into the Paris region to bolster security while firefighters moved out around the city to douse blazing vehicles.

The deaths 10 days ago of two youths apparently fleeing police ignited pent up frustrations among young men, many of them Muslims of North and black African origin, at racism, unemployment, their marginal place in French society and their treatment by the police.

Source: Xinhua/China Daily