France nervous of violence spillover 

French ministers condemned a petrol bomb attack on a synagogue in the southern city of Toulouse on Monday night which triggered fears that anger over Israel's offensive in Gaza could spill over into violence in France.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie described the attack, in which two cars packed with petrol bombs were launched at the doors of the synagogue, as "particularly stupid and revolting" and the government pledged to crack down on violent acts.

"The Republic will not allow certain extremists to use this conflict to stoke violence between communities in our country," Prime Minister Francois Fillon told parliament on Tuesday.

No one was hurt in the attack, which took place as about a dozen people were attending a class with a rabbi, but it underlined fears of a repeat of attacks against Jewish people and property in France after past Israeli offensives.

"What I want to avoid above all is that a worrying international situation should be transposed onto our national territory," Alliot Marie said.

Clashes between police and pro-Palestinian demonstrators at a rally in Paris on Saturday had already aroused fears of violence and raised the spectre of the riots that shook France's run-down urban "banlieues" in 2005.

More than a dozen cars were overturned and several others torched on Saturday as mainly younger demonstrators took on riot police and firefighters in the streets near some of the biggest department stores in the French capital.

France is home to western Europe's largest Muslim community but many young people from North African immigrant families still complain of discrimination.

With frustrations rising over the economic crisis and memories of the weeks of rioting in Athens still fresh, there have been concerns that broader social tensions could be fuelled by the crisis in Gaza.

"I am extremely worried about the way in which some people want to encourage a part of the population or young people in particular to replay in France conflicts that are taking place thousands of kilometres away," Dominique Sopo, president of the SOS Racism association told France Info radio.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy completed a visit to the region on Tuesday in a bid to encourage a ceasefire between Israel and the militant Hamas group.

But despite his condemnation of both Israel's land offensive in Gaza as well as rocket attacks by Hamas, he is unpopular with many young people of Arab origin for his perceived hardline stance as interior minister before he became president.

Many of the demonstrators on Saturday chanted "Sarko accomplice" as they denounced the Israeli attacks on Gaza.