French PM calls for local curfews as unrest persists

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu yesterday called for localized curfews, as protesters blocked the entrance to the Louvre in Paris and authorities scrambled to stem public discontent that over the weekend saw mass cost-of-living demonstrations spill over into some of the worst street violence in recent years.

Lecornu huddled with ministers in a crisis meeting after French Minister of the Interior Laurent Nunez said the police “had lost control” during the weekend’s unrest.

With the “yellow vests” movement, which organized the weekend’s rallies, calling for a new round of protests on Saturday, Lecornu called for regional authorities to impose “partial” and “localized” curfews to protect businesses after hundreds of shops were damaged and looted.

Protesters and students from art and culture schools block the entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris during a demonstration yesterday.

Photo: Reuters

“I’m absolutely determined to restore public order,” he said, adding that the government was ready to impose a state of emergency “if needed.”

Other European nations, where anger over rising prices has also led to protests, were keeping a nervous eye on the developments, with smaller clashes breaking out in Milan and Belgium over the weekend and protests simmering in Spain and Portugal.

Nunez yesterday offered to resign after more than 2,500 people were arrested and nearly 1,000 members of the security forces injured. Protesters were also hurt, with one demonstrator’s hand blown off by a police crowd-control grenade.

“On Saturday, in some major cities, you couldn’t look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and tell them we hadn’t lost control,” Nunez said.

French President Emmanuel Macron refused Nunez’s resignation, even as he acknowledged security and intelligence failures in the government response, despite the deployment of about 60,000 law enforcement personnel across the nation on Saturday.

Nationwide, more than 2,330 people were taken into police custody over the weekend, 70 percent of whom were adults — and many of whom were already known to authorities, French Minister of Justice Gerald Darmanin said yesterday.

In an address to the nation on Sunday, Macron slammed the “unbridled” violence and said local authorities would be able to ban some rallies, but stopped short of imposing more drastic measures.

City authorities in Marseille yesterday said they had banned public gatherings from noon to 8pm.

The EU called the weekend violence as “unacceptable,” but added that the right to peaceful protest “must be protected” in France.

Germany condemned the violence and updated its travel advice for France, saying: “further demonstrations and, in some cases, further outbreaks of violence in the coming days cannot be ruled out.”

The UK said the right to protest “can never excuse violence.”

The public discontent showed no signs of subsiding yesterday, with demonstrators blocking the entrance to Paris’ iconic Louvre Museum, the most visited in the world.