French police said Monday that young people were responsible for weekend violence that left a 26-year-old woman severely burned and a bus driver with glass splinters in his eye.
Speaking on Europe-1 Radio on Monday, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said police are making headway with the investigation into the Saturday night attack that left the woman with burns to 60 per cent of her body.
Youths threw a bottle of flammable liquid into a bus in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille while passengers were still on board. In past attacks on buses, the youths emptied the vehicles before setting them on fire.
Police said Sunday's incident that injured a tram conductor also involved young people.
Youths threw stones from a bridge onto the windshield of a tram in the eastern city of Grenoble. The conductor was sent to hospital to have glass splinters removed from his eyes, according to CGT, the union that represents tram employees.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on Monday vowed tougher punishments for vandals and called a special government meeting to discuss the recent spate of attacks.
The two attacks followed a pattern of targeting city buses in a return to urban violence a year after fiery riots gripped the France's poorer neighbourhoods.
The riots spurred controversy about race and racism in France because many of the people involved in the riots were the children or descendents of immigrants, especially from former colonies in Africa and Muslim North Africa.
With files from the Associated PressRelated
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