Restive youths burn cars in Paris unrest

The local prefecture, the administrative center for the region, said the situation was under control despite the scattered torchings.

Authorities had sent teams of riot police into the Bagnolet suburb just east of Paris after a night of violence following the Sunday night death of an 18-year-old pizza deliverer fleeing police on his motorcycle.

A helicopter beamed a spotlight into the area early Tuesday as bands of youth set fires and taunted police in a cat-and-mouse game typical of suburban unrest in France. The prefecture said some people were detained but provided no number.

A night earlier, some 40 people hurled Molotov cocktails at police and firefighters, torched dozens of cars and one person fired a handgun during a rampage hours after the death of the young man.

The rioters set fire to 29 cars and smashed windows of a high school and store, the statement said. One person was detained and order was restored after police reinforcements arrived.

The scenario -- the death of a youth with police directly or indirectly involved -- mirrors other incidents that have triggered unrest. Tensions between young people and police have long simmered in housing projects in France's suburbs, feeding on poverty, unemployment and anger over discrimination against minorities; Kazinform cites China Daily. See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full version.