France's lower house of parliament has voted to extend a state of emergency for three months, after the government said the extra powers are still needed to end the country's worst civil unrest in four decades.
The government also moved to deport 10 foreigners convicted during the 19 days of violence in troubled poor neighborhoods.
The National Assembly voted 346-148 on Tuesday for the extension, which would keep the measure in place through mid-February. The measure goes next to the Senate, where it was expected to be approved yesterday and go into effect at midnight on Monday.
The opposition Socialist Party argued against an extension, saying emergency measures were no longer needed because violence is abating.
But the extension passed with support from President Jacques Chirac's governing conservatives backed by centrist lawmakers.
The 12-day state of emergency was declared on Nov. 9.
The national police said yesterday morning that vandals torched 159 vehicles overnight up to 4am, down from 162 at the same time a night earlier. Forty-four people were arrested overnight.
National Police Chief Michel Gaudin said on Tuesday that the steadily declining numbers showed France was "getting back to normal" after nights of arson attacks, clashes with police and other unrest.
Late on Tuesday night, a suspected arson fire caused serious damage to a church in the southeastern town of Romans.
Officials said it wasn't immediately clear if the fire was linked to the unrest. Three mosques have been attacked with firebombs since Friday.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, arguing for the extension, said that because of the unrest, France faces one of its "sharpest and most complex urban crises."
Sarkozy, who many immigrants say has fanned the violence with combative talk, told the National Assembly that many people live with "fear in the belly" because of crime in tough areas.
"The state of emergency has been, is and will be applied with discretion," Sarkozy said. "The stakes are considerable. If republican order does not rule in these neighborhoods, gangs and extremists will."
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