PARIS, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Rioting by young immigrants continued in the Paris suburbs for an eighth night Thursday and spread for the first time outside the capital.
The BBC said there were reports of young men setting cars on fire in Dijon.
The worst violence has been in Clichy-sous-Bois and nearby areas in Seine-Saint-Denis on the northeast side of Paris, where thousands of Muslim immigrants live in high-rise housing blocks. The rioting was triggered last week by the deaths of two teenagers of North African origin who were electrocuted in an electrical substation.
On Wednesday night, violence erupted in nine areas. Youths shot at police and set fire to a car dealership, destroying 177 vehicles, the BBC said. Two primary schools, a post office and a shopping center were also damaged.
At least 15 people were arrested and nine were injured.
"I've lived here since 1966 and never seen anything like it," Chantal Goulot of Aulnay-sous-Bois told the Financial Times. "They burnt everything, the town hall, the Renault dealership, the car rental place, even the shop that makes those little cakes."
As police prepared for another night of violence Thursday, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin took a hard line, promising that "order and justice will have the last word in our country," the Financial Times said.
Earlier in the week, de Villepin left the tough talk to Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy, his likely political rival in 2007, who talked of using a vacuum cleaner on the violent areas.
