France to consider state of emergency to prevent riots recurring

France will consider imposing a state of emergency to prevent a recurrence of some of the worst civil unrest in more than a decade and urged peaceful protestors to come to the negotiating table, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said on Sunday. Groups of young men with faces masked, some carrying metal bars and axes, rioted on the streets of central Paris on Saturday, setting a dozen vehicles ablaze and torching buildings.

"We have to think about the measures that can be taken so that these incidents don't happen again," Griveaux told Europe 1 radio.

When asked about imposing a state of emergency, he said the president, prime minister and interior minister would discuss all options available to them at a meeting on Sunday.