French police arrest eight in suburb after attack

PARIS, Oct 19 (Reuters) French police arrested eight people today suspected of ambushing a patrol in a poor housing estate north of Paris last week in an attack police have said marks an upsurge of violence against them.

A police spokesman said some 100 police descended on the estate in the Epinay-sur-Seine suburb and arrested ''presumed perpetrators'' of an attack in which dozens of hooded youths pelted a patrol with stones.

Last Friday's attack was the third such assault in Paris suburbs this autumn and left one officer needing more than 30 stitches to his head. Police said the patrol managed to escape only after one of the officers fired his gun into the air.

France suffered three weeks of rioting last year that started in poor, largely immigrant estates around Paris and rapidly spread to suburbs across the country in the worst wave of civil unrest since the 1968 student uprising.

Community leaders said the violence was born out of long-running problems, such as bad housing, poor education and lack of jobs.

However, some police say the recent troubles have much more to do with plain delinquency than social issues.

Police unions said last weekend that such violence was on the rise and could get out of hand.

Demanding reinforcements and tougher sentencing for juvenile delinquents, police leaders said youth gangs were looking to create lawless no-go zones for security forces.

Security is likely to be a central theme of next year's presidential election. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, conservative frontrunner for the poll, has vowed to hunt down those who launch attacks such as last week's ambush.

Opposition Socialists say his stance has only made matters worse, while the far-right blames the violence on immigration.

REUTERS PB BD1521