French PM seeks local curfews after riots hit 3,000 businesses

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu called on Monday, October 19, for narrowly targeted local curfews after weekend rioting struck public buildings and businesses across France. Authorities estimated that at least 3,000 businesses had been damaged or looted, according to The Economic Times.

Speaking after an emergency meeting with senior officials, Lecornu defended the police response and said nobody had been killed despite the scale of the violence and destruction. He said curfew details would be announced later on Monday following consultations with mayors; the announcement was not a nationwide curfew order.

At least 2,400 people were arrested across the country. The violence followed nationwide demonstrations on Saturday over rising living costs and poor conditions in schools. On Sunday evening, groups set fire to bins, bicycles and other objects and looted shops in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and other cities.

Macron retains interior minister, demands accountability

President Emmanuel Macron rejected Interior Minister Laurent Nunez's offer to resign on Sunday. In a statement issued Monday, the president's office said continuity in the command of law enforcement was necessary in the circumstances.

Macron nevertheless instructed Nunez to ensure transparency about failures in planning and intelligence-gathering that preceded the violence. He also sought rapid changes to policing tactics to stop further unrest.

In an interview with France Inter, Nunez said he had offered to step down because he bore responsibility for what was happening. He acknowledged that authorities had lost control in some major cities on Saturday and said police needed to anticipate mobilisation more effectively and adapt to highly mobile groups.

Nunez blamed looters, people seeking confrontation and far-left activists. That attribution remains the minister's allegation: the account did not identify organisations or provide evidence establishing who organised the violence. Authorities separately said groups numbering in the hundreds confronted police and attacked city halls and other public offices.

Shopkeepers count losses as cities restrict gatherings

In Marseille, the prefect prohibited protests and other gatherings from noon until 8 p.m. on Monday. This was a specific local restriction, separate from the curfew details Lecornu said would follow.

Fire severely damaged the 19th-century City Hall in Limoges, causing its roof to collapse and leaving the building close to destruction. In Paris on Monday, firefighters and cleanup workers removed broken glass and other debris from streets.

Ouri Zagoury, who owns a video game shop near Paris' Place de la Republique, said he had closed on Saturday afternoon before watching intruders enter the premises through surveillance cameras. He said police told him not to intervene and promised to come, but did not arrive. His account illustrates the losses and protection concerns facing affected shopkeepers; it is not an independently established account of the police response.

Political criticism follows the violence

National Rally president Jordan Bardella accused Macron and the government of failing to protect the public. Speaking at party headquarters, he urged people to exercise their electoral power as well as their right to protest.

Bardella is campaigning alongside Marine Le Pen ahead of the presidential election expected next spring. The report described her as the polling front-runner but did not identify particular surveys.

The unrest drew comparisons with the riots after the fatal police shooting of a teenager in 2023, when local curfews were imposed, and with violence during the yellow vest movement that began in 2018 over fuel prices and wider economic grievances. Those historical parallels do not establish common organisers or causes for the latest attacks.