An emergency meeting chaired by President Jacques Chirac and attended by key ministers responsible for security began in Paris late Sunday to discuss France's worst rioting in nearly four decades.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and the ministers for education, economy and justice huddled behind closed doors with Chirac for the hastily-called gathering.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005