The French government has vowed a crackdown on urban violence in reaction to the shocking video footage which emerged of a policewoman being attacked by a mob on New Year's Eve.

She was one of two officers attacked by a gang of youths after police were called to a party in the Paris suburb of Champigny-sur-Marne, in an assault President Emmanuel Macron called 'a cowardly and criminal lynching'.

The area of Champigny, some eight miles from the centre of Paris, has become synonymous with Portuguese immigration.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Portuguese workers were in demand in the French capital and there was a flood of immigrants.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb called the attacks against police 'unacceptable', and said violence in Parisian societies 'must be stopped'.

The woman (centre) is surrounded from all sides as she desperately tries to cover her head

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb called the attacks against police 'unacceptable', and said violence in poor Parisian societies like the one pictured 'must be stopped'

The female police officer is filmed lying on the ground as a group of thugs stamp on her

A migrant sits on the bank of the River Seine near a makeshift camp for the city's immigrants

Collomb said reforms were needed to improve lives in 'pauperised, ghettoised' French suburbs, which have long suffered a reputation for violence and poverty.

A third officer was beaten up Monday while trying to inspect a stolen scooter inside a sprawling housing estate in the suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois.

More than a thousand cars were burned across France on New Year's Eve, a ritual among youths living in deprived high-rise suburbs.

'These are neighbourhoods that must change,' Collomb said, ahead of new pilot schemes in local policing set to begin next month following a large-scale consultation with security forces.

Officers had been called to clear a crowd of three or four hundred people attempting to see in 2018 at a warehouse party in Champigny-sur-Marne.

They fired tear gas after 'a group of particularly violent individuals laid into the police,' local security chief Jean-Yves Oses said, with revellers beating and kicking two officers.

Videos of the policewoman writhing on the floor as she is kicked by the crowd, as well as revellers flipping over a car, have gone viral on social media.

The unnamed police officer was filmed by gang members as she was kicked around by the attackers. The footage was then uploaded onto the internet by the group.

At one stage, her colleague appears so badly beaten up that he takes his gun out his holster, but does not let off a shot.

The footage on social media has sparked outrage across France, with president Emmanuel Macron promising to bring the culprits to justice.

President Emmanuel Macron called the assault 'a cowardly and criminal lynching'

Macron said: 'Those guilty of the cowardly and criminal lynching of police doing their duty on the night of December 31 will be found and punished.

'Force will support the law. Honour to the police and full support to all the agents attacked in such a low level fashion.'

The two officers arrived at a house in Champigny following reports of widespread disorder outside the address, where a New Year's party was taking place.

A number of people were turned away from the house, which led to fighting in the street.

When the police arrived at the scene, they too were attacked.

The thugs filmed themselves stamping on the woman, who tried to cover herself as she is relentlessly beaten.

She was the driver of the duty police captain, who was also beaten up, yet this attack was not filmed.

Collagues finally rushed in to help the officers, who were then rushed to hospital.

They suffered concussion and other injuries, but their condition was not life threatening.

The attackers ran into a nearby housing estate after destroying the patrol car, which was turned upside down and left in ruins.

A source said: 'The captain had tried to defend the pair using a tear gas canister, but was badly beaten up.

'At one stage he produced his service weapon, but did not get a shot off. The female officer has been written off work for at least a week, while the captain will be off for at least 10 days.'

In the video of the police officer being beaten up, an unidentified woman is using Paris street slang to say: 'The evening has really gone wrong. Goodness. Poor police officer.'

The area of Champigny, some eight miles from the centre of Paris, has become synonymous with Portuguese immigration.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Portuguese workers were in demand in the French capital and there was a flood of immigrants.

The curve of illegal entries peaked in 1969 and 1970 and 90 percent of the 120,000 Portuguese immigrants in France ended up in Champigny-sur-Marne.

Faced with this situation, the French government decided to increase the regularisation of Portuguese workers.

They opened a special branch to the police headquarters in 1965 from the Crimea Street in Paris, and in 1966 at the slum of Champigny-sur-Marne, described as the hub of Portuguese immigration in France.

The on-duty police patrol car was also vandalised by the thugs in the attack

A man washes his face and hands with the water from the River Seine in front of a row of tents at the makeshift camp

The row of tents sit along the river bank in one of the poor suburbs of Paris where violence has become an issue

Volunteers hand out food to those living in the makeshift camps along the banks of the River Seine

Two people were detained on suspicion of vandalism, but no one has been arrested for attacking the police.

Macron vowed that the culprits would be 'found and punished'.

A total of 1,031 cars were torched across France as the country welcomed the New Year - up from 935 a year ago - while arrests rose from 456 to 510, according to the interior ministry.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen urged reforms to laws governing police officers' right to self-defence, blasting 'insecurity that sometimes comes close to that of urban guerillas' in tough neighbourhoods.

Macron set out a raft of policies to fight poverty in downtrodden districts in November after critics labelled him a 'president of the rich' due to his generous tax cuts for high earners.

He reached out to the poor again in his New Year's message, promising a 'grand social project' in 2018.

French police have long suffered testy relations with youths in poor immigrant-heavy suburbs, not least since the nationwide riots in 2005 sparked by the death of two teenagers who were electrocuted while hiding from officers.

The assault of a young man by police in Aulnay-sous-Bois - which led to officers being charged, including for rape after a truncheon was shoved up the youth's anus - sparked fresh unrest last year.

An attack on two officers who were badly burned when Molotov cocktails were thrown into their car in the southern Paris suburbs in October 2016 prompted weeks of protests by police demanding safer working conditions.