President Nicolas Sarkozy has given warning that France will strip French nationality from any immigrant who uses violence against police or public officials.
"French nationality should be stripped from anybody who has threatened the life of a police officer or anybody involved in public policing," Mr Sarkozy said.
Speaking in the eastern city of Grenoble, scene in recent weeks of clashes between police and armed rioters, Mr Sarkozy said that foreign minors who commit crimes would henceforth find it harder to get citizenship on coming of age.
And he promised to review the welfare payments made to non-documented immigrants living in France, in a speech made amid renewed accusations that he had swerved to the right to distract from his political woes.
The French president is struggling in opinion polls after his government was implicated in a financial scandal.
Earlier this week, Mr Sarkozy threatened to expel foreign Roma who commit crimes back to Eastern Europe.
Mr Sarkozy, whose hardline stance helped him win the 2007 election, has promised to crack down on urban violence.
But the conservative leader has failed to reduce violent crime despite tougher policing following widespread riots in 2005. Neighbourhoods remain stricken by high youth unemployment, poor public services, drug trafficking and a rise in gun crime.
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