300 cars torched in Bastille Day riots

More than 300 cars have been set on fire and 13 police officers wounded in cities across France as rioting youths disrupt Bastille Day events, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

240 people were arrested during the rowdy celebrations, almost double the number held after unrest on the same day last year. The injured officers are suffering from hearing difficulties caused by fireworks and small explosive devices.

Car-burning by gangs of youths living primarily in France’s run-down suburban ghettos has become something of a custom during national celebrations such as Bastille Day and New Year’s Eve.

In 2005, rioting erupted across France after two teenagers died in a Paris suburb. Residents said they had been trying to flee from police.

Bastille Day is the French national holiday celebrated on the 14th of July each year. It commemorates the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison in Paris in 1789, the event regarded as the start of the French Revolution.