France Imposes Night Curfews After Police Lose Control
Intelligence had predicted 200,000 demonstrators across France on Saturday, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez; more than 500,000 came, and peaceful protests against high living costs ended in rioting and looting. On Monday Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's office announced partial night curfews in northern cities including Lille, and police imposed a curfew on parts of Paris, the Guardian reported on 19 October. Nuñez conceded that police had “lost control”.
The curfews in four northern cities run from 8pm to 6am on Monday and Tuesday nights. In Paris, police banned gatherings and entry from 11pm until Tuesday morning at Place de la République, where rioting took place on Saturday, and in the Les Halles shopping area. Nuñez said 60,000 police and other security forces had been deployed. Authorities estimate that 2,000 shops were looted. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said 2,513 people had been arrested and 67 imprisoned, the newspaper Libération reported; almost 1,000 police and gendarmes were injured.
Whether the curfews will hold is unclear: they cover only Monday and Tuesday nights, and rioting continued on Sunday, when about 30 shops were targeted in Paris and a further 350 people were arrested overnight. Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire blamed the state and expects protests to continue. Marseille's mayor, Benoît Payan, called the government's stance “petty political manoeuvring”.
French unions have called a new round of strikes and rallies for 5 November. Macron has tasked Nuñez with a security review and with “promptly” introducing new methods for police on the ground. Lecornu said the government could declare a state of emergency if it were deemed necessary.
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Well sourced and sober report on riots and curfews, with honest caveats, but the response measures are mostly emergency security steps and the underlying cost-of-living issue gets no solution focus.
The text gives many concrete figures (500,000 demonstrators, 2,513 arrests, 2,000 looted shops) and names its sources. It also admits uncertainty, for example that the curfews cover only two nights and that unrest continues. The measures it describes, curfews, a security review and a possible state of emergency, are short-term crisis responses rather than answers to the high living costs behind the protests. The score would rise with coverage of the protesters' demands, proposed policy responses, or examples of de-escalation that worked.
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