PARIS, November 2, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Ongoing clashes between French security forces and residents of the poor Paris suburbs have overshadowed celebrations of the French Muslim minority of `Eid Al-Fitr, slated to be observed Thursday, November 3.

Clashes erupted for a sixth night running in suburbs northeast of the French capital Tuesday, with French security forces firing rubber bullets and tear gas bombs, one of which hit a mosque in the area.

The clashes in the eastern suburbs, heavily populated by Muslims of north African origin, was sparked when two teenagers were electrocuted last week in the Clichy-sous-Bois while apparently fleeing the police.

The clashes raged further when French forces fired a tear gas canister at a mosque in the area Sunday while Muslim worshipers were performing the Tarawih prayers, causing the fighting to spread out to other neighborhoods of the poor suburbs.

The suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois and neighboring areas in the capital suffer from unemployment rates twice over the national average, which is already relatively high at around 10 percent.

French Muslims strongly denounced the French police firing tear gas at a mosque in the area, the act that torpedoed efforts to bring calm back to the area.

"The French Council of Imams condemns such a racist and dangerous act," the council's Secretary General Daw Meskine told IslamOnline.net Wednesday, November 2.

"Such a police practice has torpedoed the council's efforts to convince Muslim residents to be clam and avoid clashes with the French police and has turned the whole area into a 'ticking bomb'," he added.

The Union of Islamic Organizations in France (UOIF) blamed French police officers for the unrest in the area for their "racist" practices against the residents and the Muslim worship places.

Thami Breze, the UOIF chairman, called for an inquiry into the act and punishing those responsible.

"It would have been dealt as a national 'scandal' if the police fired at a Jewish synagogue," he told IOL.

During a visit to the area Tuesday, angry residents threw stones at the car of Dalil Boubakeur, leader of the French Council of Muslim Faith (CFCM), for what they consider the council's negative stance in dealing with the ongoing clashes in the area, according to IOL Correspondent.

There are some 5-6 million Muslims living in France, mostly from north African countries and Turkey.

Sarkozy has come under fire for his "zero-tolerance" policy.

In a related matter, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has come under fire for his "zero-tolerance" policy, which caused violence in the areas.

Equal Opportunities Minister Azouz Begag openly criticized Sarkozy for calling the protesting youths "scum".

But Sarkozy fired back in an interview in the daily Le Parisien. "When someone shoots at policemen, he's not just a 'youth', he's a lout, full stop."

The opposition Socialists have also denounced Sarkozy's policies.

"Perhaps it is up to the prime minister to step in, to put slightly to one side this excited interior minister," Socialist Party National Secretary Malek Boutih told i-television.

On Tuesday evening, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin urged a return to calm following a meeting with families of the two slain teenagers.

Villepin delayed for several hours his planned departure for a visit to Canada on Wednesday, officials said, and French media reported President Jacques Chirac was expected to make a statement about the unrest at a cabinet meeting Wednesday.

Sarkozy promised Monday to put more police on the streets as part of his "zero tolerance" policy towards violence.

Villepin and Sarkozy are locked in an increasingly tense battle to lead the right in the 2007 presidential election.