Relative calm in riot-hit French suburb

By Kerstin Gehmlich

VILLIERS LE BEL, France (Reuters) - Hundreds of French riot police deployed on Wednesday night in the tense Paris suburb where the death of two boys in a motorcycle accident triggered violent clashes this week.

Despite isolated incidents and a few burning cars, the streets and housing estates of Villiers le Bel were generally calm as large formations of police in riot gear stood by and a helicopter with searchlights circled overhead.

Dozens of police officers were injured earlier in the week in clashes with gangs of youths angered by the death of two local boys in a collision with a police car on Sunday.

The incidents reawakened memories of the weeks of rioting that shook France in 2005 and laid bare the tensions in the grim, multi-ethnic housing estates that ring many French cities.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, a law-and-order hardliner as interior minister during the 2005 riots, sought to ease tensions but pledged to punish rioters who used firearms against police.

"Those who take it upon themselves to shoot at police will find themselves in the Assizes Court (which handles serious cases)," he told reporters after visiting one of the officers seriously hurt in the riots.

Just back from a visit to China, he met members of the victims' families and agreed a formal manslaughter probe by an independent investigating judge would be opened, a key demand of the families.

A public prosecutor has said an initial crash report cleared police of blame in what she said was a road traffic accident in which the two victims were not wearing helmets.