Firefighters say a fire in a housing project in a Paris suburb has killed five people and left 29 injured

French Cabinet ministers were to meet today to authorise curfews aimed at stopping rioters after the country’s worst civil unrest in decades raged for a 12th night.

Unrest spread across troubled suburbs around Paris in a sixth night of violence as police clashed with angry youths and scores of vehicles were set on fire in at least nine towns.