Riot police were deployed in a troubled suburb of Paris on Tuesday night after around 100 youths armed with sticks and baseball bats clashed with police.

In the worst such violence since the riots of last November, the youths hurled Molotov cocktails at public buildings and pelted police with projectiles.

The violence broke out in the town of Montfermeil just 15 kilometers east of Paris, with trouble also erupting in nearby Clichy-sous-Bois -- the flash point of last year's riots.

Dozens of vans carrying riot police officers were stationed around Montfermeil Tuesday night. A helicopter was used to keep the area under surveillance.

Clashes erupted on Monday night when a gang attacked the mayor's home in Montfermeil, shaking its gates and hurling stones at the windows.

They also targeted the town hall, shattering its glass facade with stones, throwing Molotov cocktails and setting fire to cars and a large number of garbage bins.

The violence was a stark reminder of the anger of residents in the suburbs, despite new government efforts to tackle high youth unemployment and racial inequalities following the three weeks of rioting last fall which shook the country.

National police said nine officers suffered light injuries, mostly from projectiles, during the three hours of unrest in Montfermeil on Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2006)