Expulsion vow from French Interior Minister

PARIS - Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered the expulsion of all foreigners convicted of involvement in the French riots.

Sarkozy told the National Assembly that 122 foreigners had been convicted of roles in the unrest.

"I have asked that foreigners here legally or illegally, who have been convicted, be expelled without delay from our territory," he said.

The order would also include those foreigners with a residency permit, Sarkozy said.

"For when one has the honour of a residency permit, the least one can say is one shouldn't be going around getting arrested for urban violence." Sarkozy did not give the nationalities of any of the foreigners whose expulsion he had ordered or how many faced being thrown out.

Sarkozy's earlier promise to wash the "scum" from rioting suburban areas has been widely criticised for provoking violence.

- REUTERS