On the 10th night of mayhem, some 1,300 vehicles were torched across France overnight Saturday and 349 people were arrested. The night before, 900 vehicles were set alight and 250 arrests were made.
So far more than 800 people have been arrested and 3,500 vehicles torched, mainly in the working-class, high-immigration outer suburbs of Paris where unemployment is as high as 20 percent.
The violence spread over the weekend to Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Lille, Rennes, Rouen, Bordeaux and Montpellier, as well as central Paris where large arson attacks were launched for the first time.
The fire-bombings took place near a major Paris square, Place de la Republique, and in the north-western 17th district. Police arrested 30 people, nearly half of them caught preparing Molotov cocktails to throw in parked cars. Thirty-two vehicles were destroyed by fire and another 19 were damaged.
Outside Paris, in Athis-Mons to the west, two people were slightly injured and 100 evacuated when an immigrants' hostel went up in flames. Several other properties suffered fire damage elsewhere, including a McDonald's restaurant, two schools and a gym outside the capital.
Police said rioting gangs of youths were becoming increasingly organised after the discovery of a petrol-bomb factory south of the capital with 50 bottles ready for use. Ski masks were also found.
In the western town of Evreux, four policemen were injured in clashes with 100 youths, some armed with baseball bats, while dozens of cars and three shops were set ablaze and Molotov cocktails were thrown at a school.
Violence also spread to the central Loire region, with fires started in Orleans, Montargis and Blois.
In the outskirts of Bordeaux, 25 cars were torched and nine people arrested as disorder spread to nearby towns.
Pressure was piling up on President Jacques Chirac to make a public announcement as it became apparent his government was powerless to rein in the worst civil unrest the country has seen since 1968 student revolts.
The only comment Chirac has made since the troubles began October 27 was through his spokesman last Wednesday, when he said "tempers must calm down".