PARIS — French authorities imposed curfews in towns and cities on Monday night after a weekend of anti-government protests descended into rioting and looting that targeted city halls, other public buildings and thousands of businesses across the country.
Police issued an overnight curfew on Monday in two areas of the French capital to protect “people and property from the violence and looting,” a statement said.
The curfew prohibits anyone from entering or remaining on the Place de la République, where protesters had gathered over the weekend, and the Les Halles shopping neighborhood, which has been subject to looting.
A ban on unauthorized gatherings has also been imposed in several other parts of the city center.
Partial curfews variously restricting the movement of young people and gatherings were announced for cities including Marseille, Bordeaux, Nice and Lyon in the south as well as Lille and other towns in the north.
In northern France, local authorities imposed a curfew for children and teenagers under age 18 in several cities, including Lille, starting from Monday and for the next two days from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Nice, on the French Riviera, also imposed an overnight curfew for minors from 9 p.m.
Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had called for “very limited” and “localized” curfews.
Lecornu defended police handling of the unrest, saying that “despite scenes of severe violence and extensive property damage, no one was killed, and that is a miracle.”
The protests began last month with students demanding better school conditions, but they have since escalated to take in a broader range of concerns, with numbers at demonstrations this weekend bolstered by trade unions and various protest groups.
Mass protests in France are often tainted by violence on the fringes of otherwise peaceful marches, leading to clashes with police. Saturday’s unrest recalled the riots that followed the fatal police shooting of a teenager in 2023, when authorities imposed local curfews, and violence during the yellow vest movement that began in 2018 over fuel prices and broader economic grievances.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, who has been strongly criticised by opposition politicians over the preparedness for the disorder but whose resignation was rejected by President Emmanuel Macron, admitted police had “lost control” in some cities.
More than 2,500 people have been arrested, officials said. One demonstrator’s hand was blown off by a police crowd-control grenade, according to the AFP news agency. About 1,000 police officers were injured.
Following a crisis meeting on Monday, the prime minister said local mayors were being given the power to implement curfews “where they need”, without specifying which cities where they would be enforced.
Lecornu, who did not rule out imposing a state of emergency in the country, said the government would also set aside money to help affected areas recover from the damage, and the funding would be recovered from those behind the violence.
“There will be a law that will be put in place to find ways of making sure that those who have damaged properties will have to pay,” Lecornu said.
He also announced a partial unemployment fund for those who could not work as a result of the riots and looting.
Meanwhile, Nuñez said 200 investigators were analysing CCTV footage to try to identify possible ringleaders.
He attempted to resign on Sunday, but Macron refused “given the need for continued command of law enforcement”, the Élysée Palace said.
The statement said Nuñez should be transparent over what Macron called “intelligence and foresight failings”.
More than 2,000 shops and other businesses have been directly impacted by the weekend’s violence, the head of France’s Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI) says.
Its head Alain Di Crescenzo told France’s broadcaster RTL that damage from the riots was estimated at “hundreds of millions of euros”.
Jean-Luc Chauvin, the president of the CCI’s Marseille branch, told the BBC that many of the city’s shop owners were in “deep distress” and fear for their survival.
Looted goods have been listed on certain selling platforms, two French government ministers said. A Vinted spokesperson said the sale or solicitation of stolen goods was “strictly prohibited”.
“Since this weekend, our teams have taken immediate action to identify and remove listings linked to the looting, and we have stepped up monitoring of suspicious listings,” it said.
Some 550,000 demonstrators took to the streets over the weekend for protests against rising fuel prices, the cost of living and deteriorating public services, including schools.
Groups of rioters, some dressed in black and wearing masks and balaclavas, were seen setting fire to cars and buildings and looting businesses in Paris, Marseille and other cities and smaller towns.
In the central city of Limoges, the ornate 19th Century city hall was gutted by a fire started by rioters on Saturday, its clock tower and roof collapsing as the flames took hold.
The US Embassy in France has issued an alert advising its citizens to avoid areas affected by the recent demonstrations.
The warning says to “exercise caution” if they find themselves close to large gatherings. China and Germany have issued similar warnings.
Some politicians have accused the left-wing La France Insoumise party of playing a role in the violence, with Lecornu alleging in an earlier news conference that some groups “want to create chaos in our country up until the presidential elections”.
The party’s leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who will stand in next year’s presidential election, responded by calling for the French PM to “prove his accusation” or “apologise, shut up, and stop stoking disorder”.
Source: Saudi Gazette