A heavy police presence in Amiens ensured no repeat of violence in the northern French city overnight, after President François Hollande pledged to do all in his power to stamp out unrest.
Mr Hollande, facing his first major law and order test, dispatched his interior minister, Manuel Valls, to Amiens on Tuesday to investigate two nights of disturbances in which 17 police officers were hurt, some by shotgun pellets.
An extra 100 police were dispatched to the troubled district in northern Amiens late on Tuesday, bringing to 250 the number of security forces patrolling that area in contrast to the usual 30, officials said.
France has been prone to bouts of unrest over the past decade in the run down neighbourhoods that ring many of the country’s big cities, but there was no evidence overnight of any copycat violence in other major centres. “The night in the northern district of Amiens was very, very calm. There were incidents in other parts of Amiens and seven cars were burned but this is. . . a regular occurrence in the city,” a police spokesman said. – (Reuters)