President Macron acknowledged failures in govt response, despite the deployment of some 60,000 law enforcement personnel Saturday
France announced partial curfews on Monday as protesters blocked the entrance to the Louvre in Paris and authorities scrambled to stem discontent over living costs, after weekend demonstrations spilled into some of the worst violence in recent years.
President Macron acknowledged failures in govt response, despite the deployment of some 60,000 law enforcement personnel Saturday. Nationwide, more than 2,330 people were taken into police custody over the weekend, 70% of whom were adults, justice minister Gerald Darmanin said. At least 3,000 shops were affected, according to small businesses minister Serge Papin, with damage running into the hundreds of millions of euros.
PM Sebastien Lecornu did not rule out imposing a state of emergency after the interior minister said police “had lost control” during the unrest, which flared six months before France elects a successor to President Emmanuel Macron.
With organisers calling for a new round of protests next Saturday, Lecornu’s office said partial curfews would be enforced from 8pm to 6am Monday and Tuesday in four northern cities, including Lille, to protect businesses. “I’m absolutely determined to restore public order,” he said. On Monday, France’s digital minister, Anne Le Henanff, urged online resale platforms to remove listings for “stolen items” following Saturday’s looting and summoned representatives of companies including Vinted and eBay. Representatives of Amazon, Leboncoin, Meta and TikTok were also invited, according to the commerce ministry. “The measures we put in place were out of balance not only with regard to the number of participants, but also with regard to the rioters, looters, and far-left activists who caused the marches to spiral out of control,” Nunez said.
After the weekend scenes of chaos, interior minister Laurent Nunez offered his resignation Monday, but Macron refused to accept it.