‘We are the shame of Europe’: France imposes curfews to stop growing riots
French cities were plunged into lockdown on Monday night following a weekend of anti-government protests that descended into violent riots.
Marseille mayor Benoit Payan said France had become“the shame of Europe” as new measures were announced banning public gatherings in some of the country’s most iconic destinations from 10pm to 6am.
Sections of Paris, Lille and Marseille are among the cities affected, with more expected to follow after an appeal from prime minister Sebastien Lecornu Monday morning.
“My determination to restore order is absolute,” he said, following an emergency meeting called to deal with the now weeks-long crisis.
Italy also rushed in new measures to curb anticipated unrest after Milan police clashed with protesters throwing stones and looting shops during demonstrations against crumbling public services and the rising cost of living on Sunday.
Meanwhile Downing Street warned police have the powers and resources “to protect our communities and keep the public safe” should copycat riots emerge in Britain.
A spread of protests erupted across Europe over the weekend in response to shared frustrations over the cost of living crisis, a lack of affordable housing and deteriorating school conditions.
Organisers in France have already announced an “Act II” demonstration for this Saturday, claiming 800,000 people had taken to the streets nationwide over the weekend and calling for president Emmanuel Macron to resign after he left France in the middle of the growing crisis to tour the Middle East.
More than 2,000 people were arrested and 1,000 police officers injured across France in the fracas on Saturday. One protester died from a cardiac arrest during a demonstration in the capital.
Ariel Weil, the mayor of Paris Centre, said he requested a curfew and the deployment of the army “as early as yesterday”.
“We have to give ourselves the means to prevent looting,” he told BFM TV.
Lecornu ruled out a blanket curfew in Paris but not a state of emergency, saying it was for now more appropriate to apply partial and localised curfews, without providing details.
He blamed far-left groups for some of France’s worst unrest in years. “There is, after all, a far-left movement that wants to cause — we can’t put it any more strongly — profound unrest in the country in the run-up to the presidential election,” he said.
Marseille mayor Payan said the recent demonstrations had resulted in “almost a total loss of control” and decried “scenes of absolutely unprecedented violence”.
