Gendarmes patrol the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005

Police in France say urban violence has fallen to what they call normal levels after three weeks of some of the country's worst civil unrest in decades.

Police said about 100 vehicles were torched across the country on Wednesday night, which they said was the nightly average prior to the riots. At the peak of the unrest, rioters of mostly North African origin burned more than 1,000 vehicles each night.

Police are still deployed in significant numbers, and a state of emergency remains in place.

The violence began late last month when two teenagers of North African origin accidentally electrocuted themselves while hiding from police in a power station near Paris.

France's government has promised to tackle what it says are the real causes of the violence, including unemployment and racism.