Police in effect declared three weeks of rioting over in France yesterday and the government began mapping out plans to tackle the problems that sparked the country's worst civil unrest in almost 40 years.

Ninety-eight vehicles were set ablaze during the night, a sharp drop from the peak of the violence when 1,400 vehicles were torched in one night on November 6 by youths who say they are excluded from mainstream French society.

"The situation has returned to normal because about 100 vehicles are set on fire each night in France," a police spokesman said. About 9,000 vehicles have been set on fire and 3,000 people detained since the start of the rioting by some white youngsters as well as youths of Arab and African origin, torching cars and setting fire to buildings such as schools and churches.

The sting went out of the unrest - the worst since student riots of 1968 - after the government adopted emergency measures last week, although few areas used the special powers which include house-to-house searches and curfews.