Escalating violence

27 October: Rioting starts in the Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, where it is confined for the next four nights.

1 November: The unrest spreads to three other Paris suburbs, Aulnay-sous-Bois, Blondy and Sevran. A school and more cars are set alight; police detain 19.

2 November: Police report incidents in three more départments. Nine suburbs are now rioting.

3 November: Across Paris, 177 cars, two buses, a shopping centre and car dealership are set ablaze. Shots are fired at police in Paris.

4 November: 250 arrested as rioting spreads beyond Paris for the first time. Violent incidents are reported in Rennes, Dijon, Rouen, Lille, Toulouse, Nice, and Marseille. In Paris, more than 600 cars and 27 buses are torched.

5 November: Arsonists strike from Cannes on the Mediterranean coast, to the German border city of Strasbourg to picturesque Evreux in Normandy. In central Paris, three cars are set alight in the historic Place de la République neighbourhood. A total of 1,295 vehicles are reported destroyed; 312 arrests.

6 November: Police announce the arrest of six youths after a raid on what they call a " petrol bomb-making factory" in Evry, south Paris.

7 November: Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, 61, dies of injuries after the worst night of urban unrest, which spreads to 270 towns. M. Le Chenadec was beaten by a hooded youth in the Parisian suburb of Stains and is thought to be the first fatality of the riots.