1,300 CARS TORCHED AS PARIS RACE RIOT GROWS; Furious ghetto mobs in new rampage.

Byline: By STEPHEN WHITE

FRANCE was hit by new race violence last night after 1,300 vehicles were torched by angry mobs.

More than 200 rioters in the bleak Grigny suburb south of Paris fired shotguns and lobbed stones at police on an 11th night of mayhem. Ten officers were injured, two seriously.

The madness followed violence yesterday in Toulouse, Nantes, Strasbourg, Rouen, Rennes and Orleans. In the normally peaceful Normandy town of Evreux a shopping mall, 50 vehicles, a post office and two schools went up in flames.

President Chirac vowed to restore order. In his first public comments since rage erupted in Paris's poorest suburbs, he said: "The Republic is determined to be stronger than those who want to sow violence or fear. The law must have the last word." Nationwide, an extra 2,300 police were drafted in and 350 people arrested.

On Saturday, gangs of youths burned cars, shops and businesses across the country as the flames of discontent spread.

More than 30 cars were burned inside the city walls of the capital. Blazes broke out in Suresnes and the dingy housing complex of Les Mureaux. A Molotov cocktail factory containing 150 bottles of potential fire bombs, with gallons of fuel and hoods to hide rioters' faces, was found in the southern suburb of Evry. Six youths under 18 were arrested.

Authorities pointed the finger at drug traffickers and Islamic militants, saying the rolling nightly riots are being organised via the internet and with mobile phones.

Violence began after two youths of African origin, Bouna Traore, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17, were accidentally electrocuted at an electricity sub-station in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois after reportedly fleeing police.

Pent up frustrations exploded among young men raging at racism, unemployment, their marginal place in French society and their treatment by police. Many are Muslims of North and black African origin.

Premier Dominique de Villepin promised an action plan for 750 tough neighbourhoods. He said: "We cannot accept any no-go areas."

Meanwhile Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who called the troublemakers "scum", was accused of stoking dangerous passions.

CAPTION(S):

RUIN: Suresnes car park gutted; BLAZE ALERT: Firefighter at Paris's Les Mureaux sink esate; SMOULDERING: Remains of warehouse on outskirts of Paris