The French Government has approved the introduction of curfews in an effort to combat riots that have broken out across France for 12 straight nights. The decision, announced by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, essentially allows local authorities to impose a state of emergency in cities and towns. As well as curfews, police will be able to carry out raids on properties where they suspect weapons are being stored. Unrest continued overnight, although Paris saw a lull for the first time. Elsewhere 1,173 cars were burnt and 330 people arrested, police said. The nightly protests have gripped deprived areas with large African and Arab communities where unemployment is rife and residents complain of racism and discrimination. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin had announced plans for local authorities to impose curfews to curb the violence on Monday night. The plan was approved in a specially called Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The curfews will be imposed under a 1955 law which allows a state of emergency to be declared in all or parts of France. The law was originally passed to combat violence in Algeria in its war of independence against France from 1954-1962. Mr de Villepin told TF1 television on Monday the government would do whatever it took to bring the violence under control. Use of army rejected He said a further 1,500 officers were being sent in to help the 8,000 police and gendarmes already tackling the unrest. And, although he ruled out bringing in the army, he said "at each step, we will take the necessary measures to re-establish order very quickly throughout France. "That is our prime duty; ensuring everyone`s protection." Despite Mr de Villepin`s pledge twelve police officers were injured in riots overnight on Monday, which also saw more than 1000 vehicles torched and a dozen buildings burned. The areas hit included the southern city of Toulouse, where rioters torched a bus, and Lille in the north, where a creche was burned down and vehicles set alight. Two schools were also torched in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardie regions, north of Paris. Return to calm However, in the capital itself, where on Sunday the violence escalated to the point where two police officers were shot and wounded, there was a night of relative calm. Some 17 cars were reported to have been burned in Paris overnight, but the BBC`s Johnny Dymond said areas that had been at the centre of previous violence were virtually deserted. He says there is no easy explanation for the sudden stop in the violence - it may be that the riots have run their course, or that the rioters are simply drawing breath. The unrest was sparked by the deaths in the run-down Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois of two youths, who were accidentally electrocuted at an electricity sub-station. Locals said they were being chased by the police, but the police deny this. BBC.co.uk