Chirac Speaks Out on Rioting

Throughout the Paris suburbs, arsonists hit gymnasiums, schools and other symbols of the government.

Nationwide, 1,295 cars were burned Saturday night, according to Patrick Hamon, a spokesman for the national police. He said police detained 349 people, though local police agencies said they released many of the youths they picked up during the night.

The riots followed the deaths of two teenagers from the northern suburbs of Paris who were electrocuted in a power substation where they were trying to dodge a police checkpoint. The youths' families said the two were frightened by police who were chasing them; police deny they were pursing the teenagers. The incident incensed youths in the neighborhoods, where unemployment is high, particularly among the French-born descendants of Muslim Africans and Arabs who say they feel the government has abandoned them.

The tensions have been exacerbated by comments from Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, whose references to the rioters as "scum" prompted youths participating in the violence to demand his resignation. Sarkozy has been considered a likely contender in the 2007 presidential election.

As the violence leapt this weekend from the troubled suburbs of Paris into the heart of the capital and to other major cities and popular tourist destinations, foreign embassies issued travel advisories.

The U.S. Embassy warned travelers against taking trains from Paris to Charles de Gaulle International Airport because of attacks on two trains last week. The Russian Embassy established a hotline for tourists after a bus carrying Russian visitors was set afire by youths last week. No one on the bus was injured, according to news reports. The Canadian Embassy said citizens "should be extremely careful" if they have to travel through the affected areas. Britain also has issued warnings.

Most nightly bus services north and east of Paris were suspended Saturday because of the large number of attacks on transit buses.

French officials and local residents have expressed concern that the media images of blazes and rioting could damage tourism in the country, which attracts 75 million visitors a year.

"You are walking around in a beautiful place, but you read in the newspapers that the suburbs were burning last night," said Paolo Soler, 57, a Spanish real estate agent who was visiting Paris with his wife on their wedding anniversary. "It's definitely a shock when you hear what's happening not so far from where you are staying."

Researchers Gretchen Hoff and Maria Gabriella Bonetti contributed to this report.