PARIS, France: French Interior Ministry said schools were burnt down in Paris and hundreds of cars set on fire in cities across France in a tenth night of rioting in poor suburban areas that went into the early hours of Sunday.

According to the ministry the schools were set ablaze in the Paris suburb of Essonne, and that about 68 people had been arrested after the renewed violence as of late on Saturday.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin summoned eight key ministers and a top Muslim official to his offices on Saturday as he sought to chart an end to the violence.

The violence has been seen as the expression of pent-up anger by youths, many Muslims of North African and black African origin, at police treatment, racism, unemployment and their marginal place in French society.

The violence erupted October 27 following the electrocution of two teenagers by police.

In Saturday night's rioting, the Interior Ministry said about 480 cars had been gutted across France, with about 190 in the Paris region and 290 in the rest of the country.
A number of public and commercial buildings were targeted, authorities said.

"Violence is not a solution," Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, accused of stoking passions by calling troublemakers "scum", told reporters after the Villepin meeting.

In Aulnay-sous-Bois, a rundown suburb of 80,000 inhabitants northeast of Paris, several thousand residents, some singing the national anthem, marched past burnt out vehicles behind a "No To Violence, Yes To Dialogue" banner.

'We are all against what's happening here," said one North African resident in Aulnay-sous-Bois. "There's nothing for youths to do. Sarkozy lit the fuse and has not said sorry."

Late on Friday, Villepin, who cancelled a visit to Canada to tackle the violence, met residents from troubled neighbourhoods as part of efforts to start a dialogue. He is to publish an action plan for 750 tough districts by the end of the month.