PARIS, May 31 (UPI) -- Rioting youths clashed with police in a second night of rioting in the Paris suburbs Tuesday, setting fire to cars and throwing stones at officers.
A number of officers were injured and at least 13 youths arrested in the violence, which came just six months after France endured weeks of rioting in suburbs across the country.
One of those arrested was an 18-year-old involved in the accident last October in which the electrocution of two young men sparked nationwide riots.
The latest clashes took place in Montfermeil, 10 miles east of the center of the French capital, and in the nearby suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, the flashpoint of the fall riots.
Police said the trouble was prompted by the arrest Monday of a young man suspected of assaulting a bus driver. That night in Montfermeil around 100 youths wielding baseball bats burnt cars and attacked the home of the local mayor Xavier Lemoine, who witnessed the attack and gave evidence to police. Stones and gas bombs were thrown during battles with police, who used rubber bullets to disperse the rioters.
Last month the mayor, of the center-right ruling UMP party, caused a row when he banned teenagers aged 15 to 18 from going out in groups of more than three, and ordered under-16s to be accompanied by an adult in public. A court overturned the ban after protests from civil liberties groups.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the violence, which he described as premeditated. Next month, the presidential hopeful is to present legislation to the French parliament which the government says would make it easier to crack down on young delinquents.
In the wave of violence that gripped the country last year, almost 9,000 cars were torched and 3,000 people arrested.
