French Prime Minsiter Sébastien Lecornu has announced that there will be localised curfews put in place in a bid to stem the rioting and looting which have ravaged the country over the past two days. After a meeting of ministers
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French Prime Minsiter Sébastien Lecornu has announced that there will be localised curfews put in place in a bid to stem the rioting and looting which have ravaged the country over the past two days.
After a meeting of ministers at the Hôtel de Matignon on Monday, Prime Minister Lecornu said that, in response to concerns from shopkeepers nationwide, “localised” curfews will be put in place to prevent further looting.
Mr Lecornu said authorities face a “geographically very disparate situation,” with “chaos in urban centres”, so targeted curfews will likely be most effective in preventing looting from “taking hold”. He said that a map with the curfew zones would be published later on Monday.
The besieged prime minister said that the government has not yet deemed it necessary to impose a state of emergency. “If necessary, of course we could… To date, a curfew seems more appropriate to the situation,” he said.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, whose resignation offer on Monday morning over the failure to prevent the riots President Macron rejected, said police and gendarmerie forces will be “reinforced this weekend” ahead of further protests. He also said he would implement “a number of measures to contain and prevent looters and vandals” on Monday evening.
Minister Nuñez said that there is currently a “reflection” underway over “the doctrine of maintaining order, the management of riots, and urban violence”
Minister of Commerce Serge Papin said at least 3,000 businesses throughout France suffered damage and looting over the weekend, Le Monde reports, with estimates putting the damages in the hundreds of millions.
Despite thousands of arrests on Saturday, looting and rioting continued on Sunday, particularly in central Paris, where young men seen wearing hoods and even Palestinian keffiyehs were seen roaming free with Police seemingly being powerless.
A police officer from Paris told Le Figaro: “We faced unbearable violence once again,” adding that he was “disgusted” by the lack of resources provided to law enforcement.
Footage shared online showed rioters actively targeting police, including one instance where a police woman was forced to flee from her vehicle as hooded youths descended upon it and began to smash its windows out.
Once again, rioters targeted luxury shops, breaking into a Louis Vuitton store on the Champs-Élysées, a Goyard store near the Place Vendôme, and a BHV department store in the Marais. The Art Deco George V luxury hotel also came under attack. Le Figaro reported that a jewellery storefront was smashed amid shouts of “Wallah”.
Meanwhile, a street battle between rioters went on for hours in the Les Halles area of the city centre, with looters ransacking tobacconists and other shops while setting fires and throwing pavement stones into windows.
Perhaps the most concerning development on Sunday, however, was the targeting of residential flats, including an apartment building in the 10th arrondissement, where a horde of young men clad in black were seen breaking down the front door and storming the building.
In one viral instance, a man was seen pouring what appeared to be boiling water from his apartment window in a desperate attempt to dissuade rioters from breaking into his building. In response, the rioters pelted him in the head with makeshift projectiles.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Lecornu said that it was a “miracle” that no one was killed during the mayhem.
He claimed the unrest resulted from “an ultra-left movement that wants to create profound disorder in the country leading up to the presidential election.”
“There’s no question of violent minorities imposing an agenda of violence and preventing us from holding this election,” he said, vowing to “protect the democratic framework” from such forces.
However, Lecornu has yet to specify what actions the government intends to take against the far-left. Opponents, such as Mayor of Nice Éric Ciotti, have called for “ultra-left” groups like Antifa to be banned over fomenting the “Islamo-Leftist” riots.
The call to ban Antifa and similar groups was seconded by National Rally leader Jordan Bardella, who said on Monday that Antifa cells should be placed on the government’s terrorism watchlist.
Bardella also vowed that if Marine Le Pen and the National Rally are elected next year, his government would launch a “penal backlash” to “neutralise the individuals who behave in our midst like vandals, looters, and barbarians” and “put an end to the culture of excuses that has fuelled decades of judicial laxity.”
