CNN.com - Fiery riots spread beyond Paris

Gallery: Seventh night of violence

Gallery: Violence in Paris suburbs

• Map: Rioting in France

• Frustration and anger fuel unrest

• Residents watch as areas burn

• TIME.com: Why Paris Is Burning

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PARIS, France (CNN) -- Rioting erupted for an eighth straight night in the impoverished suburbs of Paris, with angry youths setting fire to a school, a bus depot, three warehouses and hundreds of vehicles.

Although officials said the unrest late Thursday and early Friday was less intense than in previous nights, the disturbances spread outside the Paris region for the first time.

The latest violence flared despite the presence of about 2,000 additional police officers -- and despite hopes that festivities marking the end of Ramadan would calm tensions.

Much of the rioting has occurred in areas heavily populated by poor African Muslim immigrants and their French-born children who are weary of poverty, crime, poor education and unemployment. (Watch protesters explain why they are angry -- 2:29)

The unrest has drawn attention to simmering discontent among much of France's Muslim population -- at an estimated 5 million, Western Europe's largest -- many of whom often complain of job discrimination and police harassment.

While the troubled suburbs of Paris and other French cities are often the scene of unreported car-torchings and other small-scale violence, The Associated Press reported, the current unrest is unusual in terms of its duration and the way it has spread.

As the violence entered its second week, more than 400 vehicles were destroyed across the entire Paris region overnight, including about two dozen buses at a terminal in Trappes near Versailles, authorities said.

Officials said 187 vehicles and five buildings -- including three sprawling warehouses -- were destroyed in the Seine-Saint-Denis region north and east of the French capital.

Also in Seine-Saint-Denis -- one of the worst-hit areas, located between central Paris and Charles de Gaulle airport -- youths fired buckshot at riot police vehicles in Neuilly-sur-Marne, according to the area's top official, Jean-Francois Cordet.

In Stains, a group of 30 to 40 youths harassed police near a synagogue, AP quoted Cordet as saying.

Elsewhere in France, teenagers torched five cars overnight in Dijon, regional official Paul Ronciere said. The youths were apparently angered by a police crackdown on drug trafficking in their neighborhood, AP reported.

Eleven more cars were set ablaze at a housing project in Salon-de-Provence near Marseille, police said.

However, police reported seeing fewer large groups of youths rioting, and "contrary to the previous nights, there were fewer direct clashes with the forces of order," AP quoted Cordet as saying.

"The peak is now behind us," Gerard Gaudron, mayor of one of the worst-hit Paris suburbs, Aulnay-sous-Bois, told France-Info radio. He said parents were determined to keep their teenagers at home to prevent unrest.

"People have had enough. People are afraid. It's time for this to stop," AP quoted Gaudron as saying.

Police detained 27 people and reported two injuries -- one a policeman and another a handicapped person badly burned during an arson attack on a city bus, Reuters reported.

'Calm down'

The rioting began last Thursday after two teenagers of African descent -- Bouna Traore, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17 -- were accidentally electrocuted while apparently trying to escape from police by hiding in a power substation in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.

Officials have said police were not chasing the boys, and the Interior Ministry has released a preliminary report exonerating officers of any direct role in the deaths, according to AP.

On Friday, the brother of one of the victims called for youths to "calm down and stop ransacking everything."

"This is not how we are going to have our voices heard," Siyakah Traore said on RTL radio, AP reported.

The latest violence has added to the pressure on Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who cancelled a trip to Canada this week to tackle the situation and soothe a public row between his ministers over the government's response.

Vowing to restore order, de Villepin on Thursday called a series of emergency meetings with officials throughout the day, including a working lunch with Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

"I will not accept organized gangs making the law in some neighborhoods. I will not accept having crime networks and drug trafficking profiting from disorder," Villepin said at the Senate in between emergency meetings.

The situation has sparked a war of words between de Villepin and Sarkozy, his political rival ahead of 2007 presidential elections.

Speaking to parliament Wednesday, de Villepin demanded punishment for lawbreakers but used calmer language than that used by Sarkozy, who has been criticized for calling the protesting youths "scum."

"Let's avoid stigmatizing areas .... let's treat petty crime differently to major crime, let's fight all discrimination with firmness, and avoid confusing a disruptive minority with the vast majority of youngsters who want to integrate into society and succeed," he said.

In some areas, unemployment runs as high as 20 percent -- more than twice the national average, de Villepin told lawmakers.

On Wednesday, President Jacques Chirac called for calm, adding that "the absence of dialogue and an escalation of a lack of respect will lead to a dangerous situation."

A police union official has proposed establishing a curfew and bringing in the military to help handle the rioting, while some members of the opposition Socialist Party have suggested the police should withdraw from the communities to quell the unrest.

CNN's Chris Burns and Jim Bittermann contributed to this report

Fiery riots spread beyond Paris

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'Calm down'