French unrest tapers off after curfews imposed

French protests largely died down after authorities on Monday rolled out tougher security measures, including targeted curfews, following cost-of-living protests over the weekend that degenerated into violence, vandalism and looting.

An 11pm curfew was put in place in a few areas of Paris on Monday night, along with restrictions in other cities. Curfews were to be reimposed where needed last night, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a social media post, lauding the measures for having “contributed to the overnight calm.”

Unrest on the margins of social movements is not unusual in France, with comparable rioting and opportunistic looting seen in 2023 and in 2018 with the “yellow vests” movement. Yet the violence and scale of the weekend’s events took authorities by surprise, coming at a moment of peak political and financial tension just six months before an election to choose French President Emmanuel Macron’s successor.

A man walks past a row of burnt out vehicles in Paris on Monday.

Photo: AFP

Protests on Saturday drew more than 500,000 people across the country, but the demonstrations over cost-of-living concerns soon deteriorated as fast-moving groups targeted hundreds of shops. About 2,397 people were arrested on Saturday, French Ministry of the Interior figures showed.

Vandalism continued on Sunday night, with looted stores and another 108 arrests in Paris.

The overall cost of the riots is rising, but should for now remain below 1.2 billion euros (US$1.35 billion), said Marcos Alvarez, global head of Insurance at Morningstar DBRS, in a note on Monday.

Social media accounts linked to the yellow vests protests called to continue actions all week. Several unions have already called for a strike on Nov 5.