Thousands of riot police will be deployed in Paris tonight after warnings that victory for Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative candidate in today’s presidential election, could spark violent protests.

Fears of a repeat of the rioting that swept France two years ago intensified as the final opinion polls pointed to an overwhelming victory for Sarkozy. A crowd of up to 40,000 Sarkozy supporters was expected on the Champs Elysées in central Paris to celebrate the result. Police believe that gangs of youths from the suburbs might confront them.

Sarkozy has promised a “fraternal” republic but said last week that he did not regret having described young delinquents as “scum” in 2005 in remarks widely believed to have ignited the rioting.

The interior ministry said that 8,000 riot police were being placed on stand-by in the suburbs — equivalent to the force deployed at the height of the violence, when 10,000 cars and dozens of businesses were burnt in three weeks of mayhem.

Sarkozy, 52, a Hungarian immigrant’s son who wants to modernise France, enjoyed a nine-point lead over Ségolãne Royal, 53, the Socialist candidate, in one of the last polls taken before the second and final round of voting. In a desperate effort to catch up with him, Royal, the first woman to reach the second round, warned that Sarkozy would trigger “violence and brutality” and was a “dangerous” choice for France.

She was playing on her rival’s reputation as a hate figure among minorities in the suburbs because of his “zero tolerance” crackdown, as interior minister, on crime and illegal immigrants.

Jean-Pierre Brard, mayor of Montreuil, a Paris suburb with a high immigrant population, warned: “There are reasons to be vigilant. Young people are effectively wound up like alarm clocks against Sarkozy.”

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