France imposes curfews in cities after weekend riots

Summarised from 4 outlets · Updated 19 Oct, 22:14 · Archive

French authorities have imposed overnight curfews in parts of Paris, Nice, Marseille and other cities following a weekend of riots and looting.

French authorities imposed overnight curfews in parts of central Paris and other cities on Monday night following a weekend of riots and looting across the country. Curfews were enforced between 23:00 and 06:00 in areas including Place de la République and Les Halles shopping area in Paris, with partial curfews also announced for Marseille, Nice, Lyon, Lille and other towns. Bans on unauthorised gatherings were applied to several other parts of Paris's city centre.

The disorder began last month with students demanding better school conditions, but protests have since escalated to encompass cost-of-living and anti-government concerns. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, whose resignation was rejected by President Emmanuel Macron, admitted police had 'lost control' in some cities. More than 2,500 people have been arrested according to officials.

The scale of violence has been significant. About 1,000 police officers were injured during the unrest, and according to the AFP news agency, one demonstrator's hand was blown off by a police crowd-control grenade. Following a crisis meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said local mayors were being given power to implement curfews 'where they need', though he did not rule out imposing a state of emergency. The government said it would set aside money to help affected areas recover from damage, with funding to be recovered from those behind the violence.

How it is being reported

• France imposes curfews amid violent protestsFrance imposed widespread curfews Monday night after anti-government protests descended into riots over the weekend, with extensive damage reported and thousands of arrests. CBS News international reporter Aidan Stretch has the details.CBS News · 19 Oct, 23:20
• France curfews enforced in bid to prevent riots and looting after 2,400 arrestedFrench police have issued a curfew for two areas of Paris after a weekend marred by France’s worst rioting in years with buildings set on fire and lootedThe Mirror · 19 Oct, 22:35
• Curfew imposed in parts of central Paris and other cities after rioting across FranceIt comes after the country's interior minister admits that police "lost control" in some cities.BBC News · 19 Oct, 21:50
• France: Curfews issued in Paris, Nice after unrestFrench authorities imposed curfews in parts of several cities on Monday night after cost-of-living and anti-government protests descended into rioting and looting over the weekend. DW has the latest.DW News · 19 Oct, 20:02

In this story: France · Paris · Emmanuel Macron · Laurent Nuñez · Sébastien Lecornu · Nice · Marseille · Lyon

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem