A SCHOOL erupted in flames in the Paris suburbs as rioting over Coronavirus confinement continued across France and other spots in the world.
Fireworks are thought to have started the blaze in the early hours in Gennevilliers, which is less than the eight miles from the centre of the French capital, amid growing tension over the Covid-19 lockdown.
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It comes as public unrest has been breaking out across the world by frustrated people demanding an end to the coronavirus stay-at-home measures.
This includes Russia, Germany, Brazil, the United States and India.
In France there were also reports of gangs fighting police in other major cities including Bordeaux, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Toulouse.
Most of the affected areas are what are know as "banlieues" — high-rise, low-income neighbourhoods that encircle many of its cities.
CORONA RIOTERS SPARK FIRES
A police spokesman for the Paris suburb of Gennevilliers said: "The Paul-Langevin primary school came under attack, with the head teacher’s office destroyed, along with two other teachers’ rooms.
"An investigation into the attack is underway into the fire, which was initially caused by fireworks."
Tensions have escalated over the alleged racist treatment of ethnic minorities during the coronavirus lockdown, and there has been rioting since Sunday.
It followed France’s intelligence services warning of unrest resulting from the pressure of confinement.
Some of the worst violence has been in the northern Paris suburb of Villeneuve-la-Garenne, where fireworks have been fired horizontally and from high rise flats at riot police, and at their vehicles.
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An eyewitness said: "There was more trouble on Monday night, with fires being lit and police coming under attack."
Police snatch squads were seen entering buildings and making arrests, with about 10 people taken into custody.
But cops face criminal charges too for a series of allegedly racist attacks as they enforce curfews and other tough law and order measures during France’s coronavirus crisis, which has so far claimed more than 20,000 lives.
Prosecutors have opened an enquiry after a 30-year-old motorcyclist was left fighting for his life after a collision with an unmarked police car in Villeneuve-la-Garenne.
A source close to the case said: "The very badly injured man comes from an Arab Muslim background.
"He is critical in hospital, and people in the area have reacted very badly to what has happened."
Meanwhile, across America, groups of demonstrators — some armed with high-powered assault rifles — have been seen taking to the streets in protest of lockdown orders aimed at limiting the spread of the killer virus.And the country's protests appear to have set off a chain reaction across the globe.
In India, where there are 18,658 confirmed coronavirus cases and 592 deaths, clashes erupted in Delhi as thousands of workers arrived expecting trains to take them to their homes.
Police used wooden sticks to disperse the crowds, who chanted: "Feed us or send us home."
Similarly, at least a thousand people rallied against lockdown restrictions in Vladikavkaz, Russia, with hundreds of local residents packed the city’s main square, demanding to speak to the governor as the country's death toll rose to 456.
Their concerns about the economic fallout of the lockdown.
Elsewhere in Brazil, which has reported 40,814 coronavirus cases and 2,588 deaths so far, saw its president, Jair Bolsonaro, refusing to enact nationwide lockdown measures.
On Sunday, he joined a group of 600 protesters who gathered in front of Army headquarters in Brasilia to protest against stay-at-home measures enacted by individual state governors and called for a return to military rule.
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