Paris - Some luxury Paris restaurants plan to stay closed on New Year's Eve out of fear of becoming targets for violent youth gangs mingling with revellers in the city centre.
A spokeswoman for the celebrated Fouquets on the Champs Elysees said it would be closed all day to avoid a repeat of incidents at the end of the 1998 World Cup soccer tournament when the restaurant was turned into an improvised infirmary. One person was killed and dozens injured when a car drove at high speed through part of a million-strong crowd celebrating France's win over Brazil.
