Riots spread to the centre of a French city for the first time last night as police clashed with youths in Lyon. Officers in the city's famous Place Bellecour moved in with tear gas to disperse rioters vandalising vehicles. Police said they had been attacked by groups brandishing bottles, stones and dustbins. The confrontation, which led to two arrests, happened shortly after the local prefect had announced a weekend curfew on minors.Meanwhile, Paris was under siege yesterday as thousands of police guarded key tourist sites such as the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Elysées and enforced emergency laws, including a ban on groups of people gathering.
The capital's prefect of police, Pierre Mutz, said the record deployment of some 3,000 officers was in response to a barrage of text messages and weblogs thought to have come from youths linked to the previous 16 nights of unrest in the city's suburbs. They called for 'the biggest riot ever seen'.
'The police and gendarmes have been ordered to be very firm,' said Mutz. 'It's time to say, "That's enough" to those who might be envisaging provoking riots in Paris.'
While arson attacks on buildings and cars were reported to have declined around Paris, violence in other cities - including Toulouse, Dunkirk, Amiens and Grenoble, remained intense.