France Orders Localized Curfews After Weekend Riots Damage at Least 3,000 Businesses
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu ordered prefects to impose localized curfews starting Monday evening after weekend protests over living costs turned into riots that damaged at least 3,000 businesses and led to about 2,400 arrests.
France will impose localized curfews in riot-hit areas starting Monday evening, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced, after weekend protests over the cost of living descended into looting and clashes that damaged at least 3,000 businesses across the country.
At a news conference Monday, Lecornu said he had asked prefects to implement “a number of partial curfews as early as this evening,” describing the disorder as “very localised in urban centres.” He said a state of emergency remained an option “if necessary,” but that curfews “appear to be more appropriate.”
“There is no question of allowing the looting to become established,” Lecornu said. The Interior Ministry was to release a detailed map of the areas under curfew on Monday afternoon. The prime minister also said partial unemployment measures would start Tuesday for shopkeepers hit by damage and looting, alongside public funding for affected businesses.
Weekend of looting and mass arrests
About 550,000 people joined protests across France on Saturday, and 2,397 were arrested after violence flared, according to figures the Interior Ministry released Sunday. The ministry said 997 police officers and gendarmes were injured, seven of them seriously. Trade Minister Serge Papin estimated at least 3,000 businesses were damaged or looted.
In Marseille, the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture banned all gatherings and demonstrations from noon to 8 p.m. local time on Monday. President Emmanuel Macron vowed legal action against those responsible for the violence.
Interior minister’s resignation refused
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez offered his resignation Sunday, but Macron rejected it, telling him to “ensure full transparency about the failures in planning and intelligence-gathering that led to the violence,” according to a statement from the Élysée. Nuñez told France Inter radio: “I submitted my resignation because I am responsible for everything that is happening.” He acknowledged authorities had “obviously” lost control “in some of these major cities.”
President Donald Trump weighed in Monday morning on Truth Social, writing: “The migrants have taken over France. They must CLOSE THE BORDERS, FAST!”
Reporting based on coverage by IANS, Xinhua News Agency and the New York Post.
