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Unrest waning, Chirac says France must learn lessons
 President Jacques Chirac said that France needed to learn the lessons from the urban violence that has wracked poor city suburbs for two weeks, as the unrest continued to subside.
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Timeline: France Riots
PARIS - President Jacques Chirac headed an emergency cabinet meeting Tuesday to give regional authorities powers to impose curfews in a bid to stop urban violence that has gripped France for 12 straight nights.
Here is a timeline of the unrest:
Wednesday, October 19:
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy declares a "war without mercy" on violence in the suburbs.
Tuesday, October 25:
During a visit to the Paris suburb of Argenteuil, Sarkozy is pelted with stones and bottles and describes rebellious youths in such districts as "rabble".
Thursday, October 27:
Two boys in the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, Bouna Traore, a 15-year-old of Malian background, and Zyed Benna, a 17-year-old of Tunisian origin, flee a police identity check. They scale the wall of an electrical relay station and are electrocuted as they try to hide near a transformer.
Youths in the suburb, hearing of the deaths, go on a rampage, burning 23 vehicles and vandalising buildings and hurling stones and bottles at riot police.
Friday, October 28:
Four hundred youths clash with police in Clichy-sous-Bois, throwing stones, bottles and Molotov cocktails. Twenty-three officers are hurt and colleagues fire rubber bullets to push back mobs. Thirteen people are arrested and 29 vehicles are burned.
Saturday, October 29:
Five hundred people hold a silent march through Clichy-sous-Bois in memory of the dead teenagers. Violence resumes at night. Twenty vehicles are burned. Nine people are detained, some of them for carrying hammers or petrol cans.
Sunday, October 30:
In renewed clashes, six police officers are hurt, 11 people are arrested and eight vehicles are torched. A police teargas grenade hits a mosque, prompting anger among Clichy-sous-Bois`s large Muslim community.
Monday, October 31:
Clashes in Clichy-sous-Bois and surrounding suburbs. Nineteen people are arrested and 68 vehicles are torched.
Tuesday, November 1:
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin meets the families of the dead teenagers. Riots and clashes erupt north and west of Paris. Altogether, 180 vehicles are torched and 34 people arrested.
Wednesday, November 2:
President Jacques Chirac tells ministers "tempers must calm down." Villepin and Sarkozy cancel overseas trips to deal with the spreading violence. Trouble erupts in 22 suburban towns north, south, east and west of Paris. A handicapped woman suffers severe burns when youths set a bus on fire. Police say 315 vehicles are torched and at least 15 people arrested.
Thursday, November 3:
A criminal investigation is opened into the deaths of the two teenagers. Villepin vows the government "will not give in" to the violence. The riots resume at night, and for the first time spread to other areas around France. Seven cars are set alight in central Paris. In all, 517 vehicles are torched in and around the capital and another 78 people are arrested.
Friday, November 4:
Arson hit-and-run attacks take place in suburbs around Paris and other French cities. A total of 897 vehicles are torched and more than 250 people arrested. A 61-year-old man is knocked into a coma by a hooded youth.
Saturday, November 5:
Paris prosecutor general Yves Bot says "we can see organised actions, a strategy" in the violence. The rampages again take place in suburbs outside Paris and spread to more towns. Some 349 people are arrested and over 1,300 vehicles burned. Police use seven helicopters with lights and cameras to chase fast-moving youths who set fire to property then flee.
Sunday, November 6:
The violence worsens, and spreads even to remote areas. Police say 1,408 vehicles were destroyed and 395 people arrested. Two officers sustain head wounds when shots are fired at them, and another 30 are injured in clashes.
Monday, November 7:
The wife of the 61-year-old man hurt Friday says he died Monday from his injuries. She demands that those responsible be "punished". The leader of the union of French magistrates says prosecutors cannot cope with the flood of detainees. Villepin announces a cabinet meeting that will give regional authorities curfew powers, and says 1,500 more police will be deployed.
Rioting flares again, most of it away from Paris. Police report 330 arrests and 1,173 vehicles burned, and 12 officers lightly injured in clashes.
Tuesday, November 8:
Chirac chairs the emergency cabinet meeting, invoking by decree a 1955 law drafted for Algeria`s war for independence to give regional authorities the right to impose curfews.
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