Curfews imposed in parts of Paris as France struggles to contain violent unrest

The French government of President Emmanuel Macron has moved to mount an all-out response as nationwide mass protests escalated into violence.

Prime Minister Sébastien Le Cornu said Monday (local time) that, following an emergency cabinet meeting, he had instructed regional authorities to introduce curfews starting that evening, according to AFP and Reuters.

Le Cornu said the curfews would be partial and geographically limited, with local authorities making the final decisions. "One of the purposes of this curfew is to protect not only people but also property such as shops," he said.

Le Cornu did not rule out declaring a state of emergency but added that targeted curfews were more appropriate at the current stage.

Regions moved quickly to announce their plans. Paris police imposed a curfew around Place de la République and the Les Halles commercial district from 11 p.m. Monday to 6 a.m. Tuesday. "Police forces will be deployed to enforce the measures strictly," police said.

The prime minister's office said partial curfews would run from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Tuesday in four northern cities — Lille, Douai, Wattrelos and Denain.

In Nice, Mayor Éric Ciotti announced in an online video message that minors would be banned from the city center. Authorities in the southern city of Marseille said public gatherings had been prohibited from noon to 8 p.m.

What began as high school student protests over poor conditions in French schools spread into broader demonstrations against insufficient public investment and high prices, culminating in large-scale unrest over the weekend. The protests turned violent, with rioters setting fire to public facilities and looting shops.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said about 2,330 people were detained by police over the weekend, with 70 percent of them adults. Commerce Minister Serge Papin said at least 3,000 shops had been damaged, with losses potentially running into the hundreds of millions of euros.

The retail industry federation said the number of shops affected over the weekend was approaching 3,000, adding that "the retail sector has once again found itself on the front line of disruption, already weakened by successive crises."

Anne Le Hénanff, the junior minister for digital affairs at the Commerce Ministry, urged online platforms — including Vinted, eBay, Amazon, Meta and TikTok — to block the sale of stolen goods and cooperate in prosecuting resellers.

Earlier, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez had offered to resign over the government's failure to contain the violence, but Macron rejected the offer. "I feel fully responsible. Given the damage that has occurred, it would be right for me to resign," Nuñez told France Info radio Monday.

The Élysée Palace said Macron had decided to keep Nuñez in his post to maintain the chain of command over police and security forces, and had ordered him to "take measures to ensure transparency regarding the planning and intelligence failures that led to the violence."

Criticism mounted that authorities had badly misjudged the scale and nature of the weekend protests, deploying too few personnel on the ground and failing to maintain order.

Nuñez appeared alongside Le Cornu at a news conference, announcing a series of measures to prevent looting and vandalism and pledging to deploy more police and security personnel.

With next year's presidential election on the horizon, Le Cornu again pressed his argument that "far-left forces are stoking deep anxiety across our country."

The unrest shows no sign of abating. The Louvre Museum in Paris was unable to open Monday after dozens of protesters blocked the glass pyramid entrance, disrupting operations.

The Yellow Vest movement announced on its website that it would launch a "second act" with another protest on Saturday, according to DPA.

The Yellow Vest movement, which began in November 2018 in opposition to soaring prices and social inequality, shook France for months. Student protesters had called on the Yellow Vests to join them, and the movement took part in last weekend's demonstrations.

France's major labor unions have also announced a strike and protest for Nov. 5.

Macron departed Monday on a three-day Middle East tour running through Wednesday. He arrived in Kuwait and met with Emir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, with visits to the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar also planned.

The Élysée Palace said the trip aimed to secure supplies of oil and diesel and help stabilize fuel prices.

Macron has also drawn criticism after Fox News, citing French media, reported that he and his wife Brigitte attended a concert by Canadian singer Celine Dion at a venue in Nanterre, west of Paris, on the night of Oct. 16 — days before the worst of the violence erupted.

The EU condemned the violence as "unacceptable" while affirming that the legitimate right to protest peacefully in France must be protected.

Germany also denounced the violence and cautioned its citizens traveling to France that "the possibility of further protests and, in some cases, further violence in the coming days cannot be ruled out."

French government bonds, already under pressure from fiscal concerns, fell further Monday. The yield on France's 10-year bond rose 0.12 percentage points to 4.9 percent, widening the spread over Germany's 10-year bond — considered a safer asset — to 1.45 percentage points.