Weekend rioting and looting heightens scrutiny of police tactics
Prime Minister Lecornu has 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”.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez offered his resignation on Sunday evening but President Emmanuel Macron refused it “given the need for continued command of law enforcement in the current context,” his office said.
Macron instructed Nunez “to take all necessary steps to ensure full transparency about the failures in planning and intelligence-gathering that led to the violence,” the statement said.
The president also asked for the introduction of “new policing tactics on the ground as quickly as possible” to put an end to the violence.
French unrest sparks fears for critical tourism industry
The weekend unrest in Paris has left visitors scrambling to navigate the City of Light as marches, traffic delays and wafting tear gas snarled the French capital’s 14-billion-euro ($16-billion) tourism industry.
On Monday, a small group of protesters was blocking the entrance to the Louvre’s famous glass pyramid, leading to sometimes tense confrontations with frustrated tourists hoping to tour the world’s most visited museum.
Click on the video below for a closer look.
Targeted curfews helped keep the peace overnight, says French PM
The targeted curfews imposed in parts of Paris and other cities helped keep the peace overnight, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has said in a post on X.
He added that local authorities on the ground will be able to impose targeted curfews again on Tuesday night where they deem necessary.
Which cities had nighttime curfews?
The curfew ordered for parts of Paris ran from 11:00 pm (2100 GMT) Monday to 6:00 am Tuesday.
It applied to two areas that were the focus of looting on the weekend: the République square in the centre-east of the capital, and the very central Chatelet-les-Halles zone where many shops are located.
Additionally, a ban on public gatherings taking place in those two zones came into effect from 8:00 pm on Monday.
France’s third-biggest city of Lyon had a curfew for its very central zone, where a tourist office was torched in the protests on Saturday.
The ban on public movement in the zone applied from 9:00 pm Monday to 6:00 am Tuesday.
A public-gathering ban was also in force in parts of Lyon from 6:00 pm Monday.
Nice, the biggest city on the French Riviera, had a curfew for its centre running from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am, under order of the mayor. But its curfew applied only to unaccompanied minors.
Lille, France’s fourth-biggest metropolitan area, and the towns of Douai, Wattignies and Denain, all located in the north of France, declared curfews for unaccompanied minors from 8:00 pm Monday to 6:00 am Tuesday. The measures applied only to certain zones.
France asks online marketplaces to prevent sale of looted items
As thousands of French shop owners reel from the weekend violence and looting, listings of apparently stolen items have been popping up online.
The French government has asked major second-hand marketplaces such as Vinted, eBay and Amazon to crack down on suspicious adverts.
France stunned by scale of unrest
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.
Trump exploits France riots to warn US voters over immigration
US President Donald Trump used the protests roiling France to score some quick political points Monday, as the upcoming midterm elections force his Republican party to face strong headwinds.
At a rally in Kansas, the US president launched into a lengthy tirade about France, which he said was being “conquered, looted, and burnt to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists.”
“And we’re not going to let that happen to this country,” he added.
While speaking with reporters previously in the day, Trump recalled an exchange with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron: “I told him a long time ago, you’re making a big mistake in France. You’re letting everybody from the world come in…Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon.”
Earlier Monday, the 80-year-old president wrote on his Truth Social platform: “The migrants have taken over France. They must CLOSE THE BORDERS, FAST!”
Paris imposes overnight curfew after France’s worst rioting in years
Paris police issued an overnight curfew on Monday in two areas of the French capital, after a weekend marred by France’s worst rioting in years that targeted city halls, other public buildings and thousands of businesses across the country.
The order aims to protect “people and property from the violence and looting,” the Paris police statement said.
The curfew prohibits anyone from entering or remaining on the Place de la République, where rioting took place Saturday, and the shopping neighbourhood of Les Halles, which has been subject to looting.
The curfew will be in effect from 11 pm Monday until 6 am Tuesday. In addition, gatherings and demonstrations are banned from 8 pm, the Paris police said.
Earlier Monday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had called for “very limited” and “localised” curfews.
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 pm to 6 am. Nice, on the French Riviera, also imposed an overnight curfew for minors from 9 pm.
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.”
Welcome to the France 24 liveblog covering protests in France. You can catch up on yesterday’s key developments here.
This story originally appeared on France24
