Madar (International) - French authorities on Monday, October 19, 2026, imposed overnight curfews in parts of central Paris and other cities after a weekend of rioting and looting across the country, the BBC reported.
Paris police said the curfew would run from 23:00 to 06:00 local time in Place de la Republique, where protesters had gathered over the weekend, and the Les Halles shopping area, with a ban on unauthorised gatherings in several other parts of the city centre. Partial curfews restricting the movement of young people and gatherings were announced for cities including Marseille, Bordeaux, Nice and Lyon in the south, as well as Lille and other towns in the north.
After a crisis meeting, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said mayors were being given the power to impose curfews "where they need", and did not rule out a state of emergency. He said the government would set aside money to help affected areas recover, to be recovered from those behind the violence through a new law, and announced a partial unemployment fund for people unable to work because of the unrest.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, whose resignation was rejected by President Emmanuel Macron, admitted police had "lost control" in some cities and said 200 investigators were analysing CCTV footage to identify possible ringleaders. More than 2,500 people have been arrested and about 1,000 police officers injured, officials said.
The head of France's Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Alain Di Crescenzo, said more than 2,000 shops and businesses had been directly affected, with damage estimated at "hundreds of millions of euros". Some 550,000 people demonstrated over the weekend against rising fuel prices, the cost of living and deteriorating public services. The United States, China and Germany have advised their citizens to avoid protest areas.
