French police used tear gas to clear out 100 youths from a major Paris subway station on Tuesday after a row over a ticket at the Gare du Nord station descended into a riot.
Officers arrested at least nine people and two others were injured when the clashed with police at the station, where the mainline Eurostar and Thalys terminals are a major gateway from Paris to the rest of Europe.
Dozens of rioters attacked windows, vending machines and shops in the main hall of the subway station in the afternoon, and it took police until nearly midnight to clear the station of rioters.
The trouble started when a 33-year-old without a ticket jumped the barriers in the subway station and was stopped by railway officials, police said. He tried to resist and is accused of injuring two officials.
Police patrolling the station intervened and arrested him.
However, several young people who witnessed the incident began to gather in protest against what they perceived to be the use of excessive force by police. The passenger was removed from the station but the crowd grew.
Some began throwing plastic bottles at police and shouted insults at Nicolas Sarkozy, the former interior minister and centre-right candidate for president. They also chanted slogans of "police are everywhere, justice is nowhere" and "down with the state, police and bosses".
Police reinforcements soon arrived, but did not dislodge the rioters from the station until tear-gassing them shortly before midnight.
The youths then played a game of cat and mouse with police in nearby streets, setting trash cans and signs on fire.
Calm was restored only one hour later.
In autumn 2005, youths and police clashed every night for three weeks in France's worst riots for decades.
Sarkozy, who left the government on Monday to campaign full-time for the presidency, was accused of provoking the rioters by calling them "scum."
