PARIS, Nov. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- France has returned to an "almost normal situation everywhere" after a night in which less violence was reported, the government said on Wednesday.

    Police said 163 vehicles were torched by vandals overnight, down from 215 the previous night, in a continuing downward trend.

    Some 50 people were arrested around France, bringing the total arrested since Oct. 27 to 2,888, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

    It added that more than 10,000 police and gendarmes were still involved in fighting the urban violence.

    On Wednesday, the French upper house of parliament was to debate a bill on extending a state of emergency for another three months, which had been approved by the lower house on Tuesday.

    A 12-day state of emergency was declared on Nov. 9.

    Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, arguing for the extension, said France faces one of its "sharpest and most complex urban crises."

    The number of incidents has fallen gradually since Nov. 6, when 1,408 vehicles were burned across France in one night.

    Altogether, more than 8,000 vehicles have been torched and businesses and public buildings have been wrecked. And more than 120 policemen have been injured mainly by black and Arab youths during the most serious civil rioting in four decades.

    The unrest started on Oct. 27 after the accidental electrocution at a power substation of two teenagers, one of Tunisian, the other of Mauritanian origin, who were trying to flee from a police identity check. Enditem