Shots fired in ninth night of riots in France

Gunmen fired shots into a vandalised bus as riots erupted in Paris suburbs for a ninth consecutive night this evening.

The trouble spread as troublemakers set a warehouse ablaze and stoned rescuers aiding someone who had fallen sick, police said.

Vehicles and buildings were torched in three regions: to the northwest and to the east of the French capital and as far away as Lille, 140 miles north of the French capital.

It was the second night that unrest was reported outside the Paris region.

A police officer at an Interior Ministry operations centre tracking the unrest said that bullets were fired into the vandalised bus in Sarcelles, north of Paris.

Bullets were fired four times two days ago, signalling a potentially dangerous turn of events.

A warehouse was set ablaze in Aubervilliers, on the northern edge of Paris, and a fire was lit in an underground parking lot in the suburb of Persan, to the northwest.

Youths prevented firefighters from evacuating a sick person from a block of flats in the city of Meaux, east of Paris, pelting them with stones and torching the awaiting ambulance.

At least four cars were set afire in Lille-Sud, just south of the centre of Lille.

Roving gangs set alight more than 500 vehicles in Thursday night’s lawlessness.