Posted at 20:10 20:10
Specialist tactical police sent to Marseille
We now have more information about the extra police sent to the city of Marseille, in response to requests from officials there.
Those reinforcements will include members of the elite tactical unit GIGN (Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale), media outlet BFMTV reports, citing the regional police.
An extra 200 agents from the CRS - the mobile reserve officers of the French National Police - are also on their way to the city, the interior minister said at a press conference.
He said helicopters and armoured vehicles were available to forces across France.
We reported earlier that CRS 8, a specialist unit for urban violence, was being deployed to Lyon.
Posted at 21:11 21:11
Police make 14 arrests in Marseille as looters target shops - reports
There are reports that groups of people are trying to loot shops on the Canebière, one of Marseille's main shopping streets.
Police are quoted by local media as saying that there have been 14 arrests so far in the city, where police reinforcements were sent earlier in anticipation of increased violence tonight.
So far, groups of looters have been broken up effectively thanks to the large police force deployed in the city, police say.
Of the 14 people arrested, seven were caught in the act of stealing from a store in a shopping centre, while other individuals tried to break into the Canebière fire station, but were stopped by police, BFMTV reports.