French calls partial curfews as riots hit businesses
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has called for local curfews after weekend riots and looting, giving regional mayors more power to impose restrictions. The…
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has called for partial curfews after weekend riots and looting, as damage to shops and businesses raises pressure on local authorities to protect people and property. Regional mayors have been given more power to impose restrictions in affected areas, but each town will set its own rules.
The impact is already being felt by businesses. The head of France’s Chambers of Commerce and Industry said 2,000 businesses were directly affected by the demonstrations, while Lecornu condemned those involved as “the breakers, by the thieves, by the thugs”.
Some restrictions are in place. In Coulaines, north-west France, Mayor Christophe Roullion said minors could not be outside after 23:00 local time in a post on Facebook.
Mayors set local curfew rules
Lecornu stopped short of calling a state of emergency. The BBC reported that it remains unclear what curfews elsewhere will look like because each local authority can decide its own rules. In Paris, restrictions could make areas such as Place de la Republique off-limits at specific times, according to the BBC’s correspondent.
The decision leaves mayors to determine where and when restrictions apply. That could mean rules differ from one town to another, even as authorities respond to the same wave of unrest.
Local decisions, with immediate consequences.
The disorder began last month with student protests over school conditions, then widened to include broader concerns. Lecornu said “ultra-left radical groups” were leading the movement and seeking to “create chaos” before the 2027 French presidential elections.
France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said police had “lost control” and cited a “lack of anticipation” by officers. French President Emmanuel Macron rejected Nuñez’s offer to resign.
Businesses face the cost of looting
The protests escalated over the weekend. More than half a million people took to the streets on Saturday, while more than 350 arrests were made in Paris alone on Sunday. At least five shops were looted there, according to the BBC.
For shop owners, the curfew debate is tied to an immediate concern: whether customers and staff can safely reach businesses, and whether stores can remain open without facing further damage. The BBC reported footage of looters ransacking a phone-case shop in Nice and a shop owner in Paris losing more than €100,000. The figures underline how the unrest has moved beyond street demonstrations and into commercial areas.
Data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project, cited by the BBC, described France as experiencing an “exceptional” period of protests. The group recorded almost 66 demonstrations a day during the current wave of unrest, compared with just over 20 per day on average during periods of unrest in the past five years. Its figures ran through Friday, 16 October.
Almost a quarter of the recorded events were classified as riots, compared with an average of less than 2% in previous protest waves, the project said.
Mayors now have the authority to impose local curfews, while the rules and areas covered remain for each local authority to decide.
Source: bbc.co.uk
