Europeupdated 1h ago2 min read
Marseille Police Union Says Protests Turned Into War, With 118 Officers Injured
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Widespread protests across France turned violent, injuring hundreds of police and arresting thousands. France deployed Sentinelle troops to back police during upcoming protests.
Marseille turns to disorder
Marseille braced for more unrest after protests gave way to disorder, with the BBC describing thunder and lightning booms across the city and cracked windows and boarded-up doors of hundreds of businesses smashed as protests turned violent. Local business leaders told the BBC that more than 500 premises were damaged and the majority looted, while a police union boss said the weekend was an "apocalyptic" hell for his colleagues. Arnaud Blaise from the UN1TE police union told the BBC, "It was a war," and he said police were overwhelmed as "police officers" ran "right" and "left".
118 officers were injured and 101 arrests had been made in the port city, with a quarter of them children. Demonstrations and gatherings were banned for eight hours and an overnight curfew for minors would come into force in parts of the city from Tuesday evening.
Curfews and troop plans
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told lawmakers that authorities planned to mobilize a "massive" security presence this coming Saturday, and he said the government would aim for an "immediate return to order." Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told lawmakers that the government would deploy forces from France's Sentinelle force, mainly on "static security missions," to free up police and gendarmes to carry out law enforcement objectives. The deployment next Saturday will be massive, while the government acknowledged failures in its response to last weekend's violence.
Lecornu instructed prefects to consider imposing "partial and localised curfews" in some city centres, and the first curfews were announced on Monday night. A curfew in Paris was imposed from 23:00-6:00 around Les Halles and place de la République, and it also described curfews in Lille, Douai, Denain and Wattignies.
State response and stakes
France imposed partial curfews in parts of Paris after the government admitted police had "lost control" during violent weekend protests, and curfews from 11pm on Monday until 6am on Tuesday in Place de la République and Les Halles were reported. Laurent Nuñez acknowledged there had been a "lack of anticipation" in preparations for the protests and intelligence suggested there would be 200,000 demonstrators, while the weekend saw more than 500,000. Fabrice Le Saché, vice president of business group MEDEF, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" that "The lack of enforcement means that more than 3,000 shops have been sacked" and that the state cannot do the basic duty it is supposed to do.
Parliament was setting up a commission of inquiry and authorities had assigned 200 investigators to identify and track down those involved in street violence. Carrefour said it had lost tens of millions of euros through theft and damage and warned it faced an "unprecedented situation" because of the disorder.