The violence took another alarming turn Saturday night with attacks in the well-guarded French capital. Police said 35 cars were torched, most on the city's northern and southern edges.

In central Paris, gasoline bombs damaged three cars near Place de la Republique. Residents reported a loud explosion and flames.

"We were very afraid," said Annie Partouche, 55, who watched the cars burning from her apartment window. "We were afraid to leave the building."

Chirac spoke after a security meeting of his top ministers.

"The law must have the last word," Chirac said in his first public address on the violence. Those sowing "violence or fear" will be "arrested, judged and punished."

Des drapeaux algériens et marocains sont suspendus aux fenêtres, placés ici le jour où les frappes ont commencé en Afghanistan. Quand les nouvelles de l'attaque du World Trade Center ont atteint la cité, des jeunes gens ont déferlé sur les cours en ciment au pied des immeubles de 15 étages pour applaudir, siffler, manifester leur joie et crier en arabe "Dieu est grand"

Lorsque la porte de l'ascenseur s'ouvre au septième étage, elle montre une bande blanche fraîchement peinte sur le mur. Madame Dana, une des rares juives de la Cité, est rentrée il y a quelques jours à la maison et a trouvé étalée sur le mur à côté de sa porte l'inscription "Mort aux juifs".

"J'ai du repeindre pour cacher ce slogan" nous dit-elle. "Cela a terrorisé mes deux fils. Ils veulent que nous partions".

Some officials suspect the unrest that reached into Paris proper early Sunday has in part been instigated by gangs hoping to turn their neighborhoods into no-go zones for police so drug trafficking and racketeering can thrive.

"People here are bad. I don't want to live here anymore," Rebab Khalil, an 11-year-old whose divorced parents came from Tunisia, said when asked about the gangs.