Europeupdated 1h ago2 min read
Sébastien Lecornu Orders Partial Curfews in Paris, Lille, and Nice After Riots and Looting
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Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced partial curfews in Paris and several major cities. Curfews are local, limited to specific areas, with potential state of emergency.
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Curfew Tightens in Paris
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that authorities would impose new curfew decisions in areas where the situation requires it, after a first night during which partial curfew was applied in major cities including the capital Paris. Paris police announced a ban on demonstrations in certain areas of the capital starting at eight o’clock in the evening, and imposed a curfew around Place de la République and La Halte area from eleven o’clock at night until six in the morning. Lecornu ruled out a full curfew in Paris, but he did not rule out declaring a state of emergency, stressing that implementing a partial curfew in specific areas is the most appropriate option at the current stage.
French authorities imposed curfews in parts of several cities including Paris, Lille, and Nice, amid rising government pressure following riots and looting that erupted at the start of the week against government protests. French unions called for a new round of strikes and marches on November 5, as the government said local curfew decisions helped calm the situation during the night.
Arrests and Security Response
The French Ministry of Justice announced the arrest of 2,513 people in connection with investigations and the detention of 67 others in prison. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin told TF1 that he issued instructions to prosecutors to consider charging some crimes within the framework of organized crime, which would allow extending detention from 48 to 72 hours. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez pledged to increase security presence at demonstrations planned for next Saturday, after criticisms by the city's mayor, Benoît Payan, of how security forces handled disturbances last week.
The Interior Ministry said about 2,400 people were arrested during the events, while one demonstrator died of a heart attack on Saturday and about a thousand police officers were injured. President Emmanuel Macron rejected Laurent Nunez’s resignation offer and asked him to put an end to looting and barricades and to be transparent about security shortcomings.
Economic Fallout and Stakes
The French Trade Minister Sirj Baban said initial estimates indicate that at least 3,000 companies nationwide have been affected by the weekend unrest. The same report said the insurance bill from the riots could range between 1.0 and 1.2 billion euros, exceeding the riot-related losses France recorded in 2023 of about 730 million euros. The Retail and Trade Union reported that around three thousand shops were affected by the unrest, calling for relief from social security contributions and taxes for affected businesses.
The government also began measures to prevent the online resale of looted goods, and it held meetings with e-commerce companies and resale platforms including Vinted, Amazon, eBay, Meta, and TikTok. The mayors of Paris, Marseille, and Lyon wrote in a joint op-ed published by Le Parisien that they are accustomed to protests and demonstrations, but Saturday’s events made them feel for the first time that large parts of their cities were left unprotected.