The incident has caused widespread shock and is being treated as attempted murder. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne described it as intolerable.

Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun was not at home, but his wife suffered a broken leg and a child was also hurt.

France has seen violent protests after police killed a teenager on Tuesday.

The suspects in the incident in L'Haÿ-les-Roses, south of Paris, have not been identified.

Mr Jeanbrun said he had been in his office overseeing the situation when the attack on his home occurred at 01:30 (23:30 GMT on Saturday).

The attackers used a car to ram through the gates of their home before setting the vehicle on fire so that the blaze would spread to the house, the mayor said in a statement.

Then when his wife, Melanie Nowak, tried to flee with the children, aged five and seven, they were attacked with firework rockets.

Mayor Jeanbrun called it "a murder attempt of unspeakable cowardice".

"A line has been crossed," he said.

"If my priority today is to take care of my family, my determination to protect and serve the Republic is greater than before," he added.

The mayor, from the centre-right Les Republicains, has received widespread support from across the French political spectrum.

The public prosecutor's office has started an investigation for attempted murder.
The attack on Mayor Jeanbrun's home came during the fifth night of violent protests across France over the death of Nahel M, 17, who was shot by police at point-blank range during a traffic stop.

Around 45,000 police were deployed in France on Saturday to control the protests and the interior ministry said Saturday night had been quieter, with fewer arrests overall.

However there were more than 700 arrests across the country and more than 800 fires were lit by rioters during the course of the night, officials said.

Mr Jeanbrun had urged the French government earlier to impose a state of emergency in response to the riots, which President Emmanuel Macron has so far declined to do.

The French leader is due to meet with top officials later to discuss the crisis.

BBC