Shots fired in ninth day of violence in Paris suburbs

New violence struck Paris suburbs Friday, spreading through three regions in a ninth night of unrest with troublemakers firing bullets into a vandalized bus, setting a warehouse ablaze and stoning rescuers aiding someone who fell sick, police said.

Vehicles and buildings were torched in three regions rimming Paris from the northwest to the east and as far away as Lille, 225 kilometers (140 miles) north of the French capital. It was the second night that unrest was reported outside the Paris region.

A police officer at an Interior Ministry operations center tracking the unrest said that bullets were fired into a vandalized bus in Sarcelles, north of Paris. Bullets were fired four times two days ago, signaling a potentially dangerous turn of events. The police officer, not authorized to speak publicly, asked not to be named.

A warehouse was set ablaze in Aubervilliers, on the northern edge of Paris, and a fire was lit in an underground parking lot in the suburb of Persan, to the northwest.

Youths prevented firefighters from evacuating a sick person from an apartment in a project in the city of Meaux, east of Paris, pelting them with stones and torching the awaiting ambulance, the officer said.

At least four cars were set afire in Lille-Sud, just south of the center of Lille.

Roving gangs had set over 500 vehicles ablaze the night before, AP reported. V.A.