Riots: Paris limits fuel sales

2005-11-10 16:26

Paris - Authorities on Thursday banned the sale of petrol in containers after several people were arrested carrying incendiary devices inside the capital, said police.

Police also said they had intercepted a number of calls, on the internet and circulating by text message, for "violent actions" in the city, which had largely been spared the rioting seen in its suburbs.

National police director-general Michel Gaudin said they were studying "with the greatest care" any messages inciting violence in the capital, although he said intelligence services doubted rioting would reach the city.

Three people arrested

Police said a man accused of inciting riots in dozens of messages posted on internet blogs was arrested on Thursday in the suburbs east of Paris.

Three people had been arrested for similar offences in the past week, two in the northeast Paris region and one in Aix-en-Provence in the southeast.

The violence that had wracked poor city suburbs around France for two weeks, showed signs of being on the wane on Thursday, as police reported another decrease in the number of overnight incidents.

A group of associations from the Paris suburbs had called for a peace march in the capital on Friday, but the rally - coinciding with state ceremonies marking the end of World War 1 - had not so far been authorised by police.

- AFP