France's biggest Muslim fundamentalist organisation, the Union for Islamic Organisations of France, has issued a fatwa, or religious decree, in a bid to help quell riots which have seen nearly 1,000 arrested in recent days.

Ten police officers were injured by lead pellets in a clash with 250-300 youths in France overnight as rioting continued, but only two were taken to hospital with more serious injuries – to the neck and legs.

FRENCH President Jacques Chirac yesterday promised arrests, trials and punishment for those sowing “violence or fear” across the country.

French President Jacques Chirac called a security meeting of his top ministers tonight after urban rioting spread – with arsonists striking from the Mediterranean to the German border and into central Paris for the first time.

Riots which have rocked France for the past 10 days reached central Paris for the first time today in an orgy of destruction and violence.

France was hit by a 10th night of rioting as the urban unrest reached Paris for the first time.

Bands of youths torched cars, warehouses and a nursery school early today in a ninth night of violence in the suburbs of Paris and beyond.