More than 150 people, some hooded and armed with both knives and weapons, gathered on Monday to avenge an alleged attack on a Chechen teen, who must have been carried out by a local drug dealer, the British TV channel reports.

Several events must then have taken place over the weekend in the French city of Dijon after Chechens have called for revenge via social media. Hundreds must have joined from the rest of France as well as Belgium and Germany.

Prosecutors say at least 10 people were injured on Friday night, some seriously, and that one person sustained gunshot injuries on Saturday. On Sunday, more than 200 people joined the district of Gresilles with violent intent, police say.

The violence resumed yesterday as people set fire to garbage and a car, reports the AFP news agency.

Quantities of police called

37 police officers have already arrived in the city and 110 additional police have been ordered there.

Bernard Schmeltz, a government official in the region, said in a statement that the violence "appears to be part of a settlement between members of the Chechen community in France and the" residents "of Dijon.

"We never intended to plunder the city and take it out to the residents," one Chechen man told the Le Bien Public newspaper

In an interview with the daily newspaper Le Bien Public, a man who claims to be a cheat says the events were revenge following an assault on a 16-year-old local drug dealer.

A preliminary investigation has been launched for attempted murder, says Dijon Prosecutor Eric Mathais, according to the BBC.

Chechnya is a Russian republic in the North Caucasus. Two wars in the 1990s triggered a wave of emigration, with many Chechens coming to Western Europe.