FRANCE: The rioting in France has lessened every night since Sunday, but officials fear it could flare up again tonight or over this holiday weekend.
Messages intercepted by police seem to indicate an attempt to organise a gathering at the Eiffel Tower, in Les Halles shopping centre, or on the Champs-Élysées.
Michel Gaudin, director general of the national police force, said there was "a very sharp drop" in violence overnight on Wednesday, with 482 cars burned across the country, compared to 617 the previous night.
Toulouse, Lille, Lyon, Strasbourg and Marseille are now the most troubled cities. In the Seine-Saint-Denis department north of Paris, where the rioting started, only 15 cars were burned on Wednesday night, which is considered "normal".
Meanwhile, the interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy's threat to expel non-French citizens involved in the riots has met with opposition. Anti-racism group SOS-Racisme says the measure would constitute mass deportation and has appealed to the Council of State to intervene within 48 hours to prevent expulsions.
A group of 20 associations and trade unions, with the communist and green parties, issued a joint statement saying Mr Sarkozy's threat was "obviously illegal", and accusing him of "continuing to blame foreigners and making them scapegoats".
For some, expulsion of foreigners does not go far enough. The UMP deputy, Jean-Paul Garaud, says he will submit a draft law making it possible to withdraw the nationality of naturalised citizens "who participate in urban guerrilla warfare" and "want to destroy the French nation". Extreme right-wing leader Jean-Marie Le Pen also advocates stripping immigrants who commit crimes of their French citizenship and sending them "back to their country of origin".
Opinion polls indicate 30 per cent of French people believe Mr Sarkozy is partly responsible for the last two weeks of rioting. For the first time since Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin came to office in June, he has surpassed Mr Sarkozy in popularity. A poll published in yesterday's Paris Match showed 52 per cent of French people prefer Mr de Villepin to Mr Sarkozy, who got only 44 per cent of preferences.
President Jacques Chirac spoke publicly of the violence for only the second time yesterday, saying he wanted "to remind everyone of their responsibilities, especially the parents of the too-numerous minors who, often pushed by their elders, participated in this urban violence".
Eight French police officers have been suspended. Television cameras filmed two of the officers beating a young man in La Courneuve on Sunday night. The other six witnessed the beating but did nothing about it.
Insurance experts estimate the riots have already done €200 million in damage, including €20 million for destroyed cars.