Seventh day of violence erupts in Paris suburbs

? Menacing youths smoked cigarettes in doorways Wednesday and hulks of burned cars littered the tough streets of Paris’ northeastern suburbs scarred by a week of riots that left residents on edge and sent the government into crisis mode.

In a seventh consecutive night of skirmishes, young people threw rocks at police Wednesday in six suburbs in the Seine-Saint-Denis region north of Paris – about a 40-minute drive from the Eiffel Tower. In one of them, Le Blanc-Mesnil, about a dozen cars burned and curious residents, some in slippers and bathrobes, poured into the streets.

Some said the unrest – sparked by the accidental deaths of two teenagers last week – is an expression of frustration over grinding unemployment and police harassment in the communities, where many North African immigrants live. “It is not going to end. It is going to explode,” said an 18-year-old who would only give his name as Amine.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy both canceled trips abroad to deal with the unrest.

“The government is entirely mobilized. Its immediate priority is to restore public order and restore it without delay,” de Villepin said.

Muslim leaders at Clichy-sous-Bois’ mosque, meanwhile, prayed for peace and asked parents to keep teenagers off the streets after skirmishes broke out after two teenage boys were electrocuted last Thursday while hiding in a power substation because they believed police were chasing them.

Several cars were burned Wednesday in Clichy-Sous-Bois suburb near Paris. French President Jacques Chirac called for calm and a firm hand Wednesday in response to the rioting. The violence was sparked initially by the electrocution deaths of two teenagers.

The unrest spread to at least nine Paris-region towns overnight Tuesday, exposing the despair, anger and criminality in France’s poor suburbs – fertile terrain for Islamic extremists, drug dealers and racketeers.

The violence, concentrated in neighborhoods with large African and Muslim populations, has highlighted the difficulties many European nations face with immigrant communities feeling marginalized, restive and cut off from the continent’s prosperity.

“They have no work. They have nothing to do. Put yourself in their place,” said Abderrahmane Bouhout, president of the Clichy-sous-Bois mosque, where a tear gas grenade exploded Sunday evening. Local youths suspected a police attack, and authorities are investigating.

The violence cast doubt on the success of France’s model of seeking to integrate its large immigrant community – its Muslim population, at an estimated 5 million, is Western Europe’s largest – by playing down differences among ethnic groups. But rather than be embraced as full and equal citizens, immigrants and their French-born children often complain of police harassment and of being refused jobs, housing and opportunities.