Arson attacks that hopscotched around the country, destroying schools, gymnasiums, public buildings, public transport and cars, have declined in recent days, but stretched into a 16th day despite the calls for peace, with more than 400 cars torched across the country and 162 people arrested overnight into Saturday.

In the south, an attacker threw two firebombs into a mosque during Friday prayers, causing minor damage. It was not immediately clear if the attack was linked to the wider unrest.

With a state of emergency in place, several hundred people gathered Friday at the glassy Wall of Peace near the Eiffel Tower to call for an end to the unrest that erupted Oct. 27 and spread across the country....

Overnight into Saturday, arsonists destroyed part of a primary school in the eastern town of Savigny-le-Temple, set two stores ablaze in Rambouillet, west of Paris, and set fire to a library inside the town hall in the western town of Angers, national police spokesman Patrick Reydy said.

The recent unrest has decreased since France imposed a state of emergency Wednesday that empowers regions to impose curfews and conduct house searches. Six regions have so far used the powers, more recently prefect Pierre Soubelet of the Landes region in the southwest.

Authorities bolstered security in Paris, deploying truckloads of riot police as Chirac rode in an open jeep down the Champs-Elysees to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to mark Armistice Day.

Paris police headquarters banned gatherings of "a nature that could provoke or encourage disorder" from 10 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday.

"Messages distributed in the last few days over the Internet and by text messaging have called for gatherings Nov. 12 in Paris and 'violent actions,' in the words of their authors," a statement said.

National Police Chief Michel Gaudin said five people have been taken into police custody on suspicion of putting up Internet sites calling for violence....

"We have seen a continued drop beyond Paris, but persistence near the capital," national police spokesman Patrick Hamon said, suggesting concern that percolating unrest could again explode.

The number of vehicles burned overnight across the country climbed slightly to 502 from 463 the previous night, police said Saturday. The recent figures are down sharply from the peak of the violence.

"We returned to an almost normal situation in Ile de France," said Gaudin, referring to the Paris region. He said that 86 vehicles were burned, which he said was about normal.

Groups of anarchists broke windows, threw paint and spray-painted slogans at French cultural institutes in Athens and northern Greece in support of rioters in France, Greek police said on Friday. About 50 people, wearing hoods and helmets and carrying red and black flags, threw stones, spark plugs and bottles filled with paint at the central Athens French Institute on Friday morning, breaking windows and damaging parked vehicles. Police said there were no injuries and the group dispersed quickly after the attack. Another group attacked the French institute in the northern city of Thessaloniki on Thursday evening, smashing windows while classrooms were filled with language students. They spray-painted "Rioters Are Right" on the front of the building.

"They just appeared out of nowhere, I think about 70 or 80 of them. They smashed everything and we just sat there terrified," one student told reporters.