French authorities announce partial curfews as PM blames ‘ultra-left’ for exploiting protests – Europe live

Here is the decree from the Paris police prefecture on the curfew which will be from 11 pm until 6am. “The central median of the Place de la République” and “an area [...

] delimited by the following squares and streets within it: Place Maurice-Quentin; Rue Berger from Place Maurice-Quentin to the corner of Boulevard Sébastopol; the section of Passage des Lingères that leads onto Rue Berger; Boulevard Sébastopol from the corner of Rue Berger to the corner of Allée André-Breton; Allée André-Breton.”

The prefecture clarifies that “residents who can prove, by any means, that their residence is located within the aforementioned areas, workers [... ], members of the public emergency services, and shopkeepers are not subject to” the decree.

Demonstrations will also be prohibited from 8pm to 6am in other parts of the capital, such as Bastille, Châtelet, or near places of power like the Elysée, Matignon, the National Assembly and the Senate.

A curfew has also been announced in central Lyon, taking effect from Monday at 9pm local time until 6am on Tuesday.

Eric Ciotti, the mayor of the southern French city of Nice, has also issued a curfew “to protect the people of Nice” starting from Monday evening 9pm local time to 6am. The curfew will remain in effect each night until Sunday, and will only apply to minors, he said.

According to Libération, only certain areas of the city are affected: the city center, Old Nice, the Trachel district, and the Gare du Sud (southern train station). Here’s Ciotti’s social media announcement.

French authorities have issued an overnight curfew, which will come into effect from 11pm until 6am local time, for Place de la Republique ⁠and the streets around ⁠Les Halles in Paris, according to Libération and France24. The measure will apply to three categories of people: unaccompanied minors, people wearing personal protective equipment, and those concealing their faces.

Authorities had earlier issued the country’s first curfew to run for two days starting on Monday in the northern city of Lille and surrounding cities of Douai, Wattignies and Denain, France24 reported citing prime minister Sébastien Lecornu’s office.

The prefect of the Nord department has issued an order imposing a curfew for minors starting at 8 p. m. local time in certain areas of the cities of Lille, Douai, Wattignies, and Denain. “These orders are issued in close collaboration with the mayors concerned,” the prefecture said. The Prime Minister’s office stated the measure is in effect for Monday and Tuesday nights, from 8pm to 6 am, Liberation reported.

In Coulaines, a town of 8,000 inhabitants near Le Mans, the mayor, Christophe Rouillon, also announced on Facebook that he would be implementing a curfew “in the evening for minors who go out alone ,” starting at 11 p. m. on Monday.

The right-wing mayor of a town in Maine-et-Loire has decided to fly the flags at the town hall at half-mast and remove the portrait of Emmanuel Macron following the demonstrations in France.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the violence and damage committed by those who flout our laws, vandalise our towns, and show contempt for the values of the Republic,” Frédéric Mortier, the mayor of Longué-Jumelles, said. “France cannot accept that some refuse common rules, reject the requirements of integration and challenge the authority of the State,” he continued.

The mayor added that he had also decided “to take down the portrait of the President of the Republic in the town hall”, explaining that the attitude of the head of state “in the face of this situation is unworthy of the gravity of the events and the expectations of our fellow citizens”.

Last weekend there were mass protests across France, with more than half a million people estimated to have been involved. The unrest included rioting, looting and violent clashes with outnumbered police in cities including Paris, Marseille and Limoges. The interior minister conceded that police “lost control” in some cities, while President Emmanuel Macron demanded a full security review.

For today’s instalment of The Latest podcast, Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s Europe correspondent, Jon Henley:

François Gatel, Minister for Territorial Collectivities, told the National Assembly there will be “the mobilisation of an exceptional fund to support the reconstruction of public facilities.” He added it will be “a one-stop shop to support disaster-stricken communities” to coordinate and facilitate the process. The minister also promised regulatory “flexibilities” to ease the work.

Shops were looted and public buildings were set ablaze in cities across France over the weekend, as nationwide protests turned violent.

Four police officers were injured and a police station was vandalised in the Garenne district of La Roche-sur-Yon by “around sixty individuals dressed in black and wearing balaclavas” who fired fireworks and other projectiles, Liberation reported.

in Paris Just before 1am on Monday morning, two motorbikes carrying one passenger each stopped at a traffic light on a backstreet near rue de Rivoli, one of central Paris’s busiest shopping streets. “You’ve got to go where there are a lot of people, where they’ve done the shop windows,” said one motorbike rider to another. Minutes later 10 other men, their faces covered with ski balaclavas, came down the street on foot pursued by a police van.

Soon after Emmanuel Macron’s televised speech on Sunday night telling the nation it was “unbearable to see our streets ransacked”, groups of men looted shops in central Paris for hours for a second night running. Dozens of people attempted to smash windows near Les Halles shopping centre and grab goods. Others broke into an electrical shop in Belleville in the north of the city. “Men were battering shop windows, trying to break in, then they were chased by police,” said a 73-year-old woman near Les Halles. “There were different groups running eve

Meanwhile, as France was busy cleaning up its streets, the country’s president Emmanuel Macron – who last night delivered an address to the nation on the events – arrived in Kuwait for a Gulf trip aimed at securing additional petrol and diesel supplies to bring down pump prices, Reuters reported. During the trip, he is also visiting the United Arab Emirates.

Kaynak: The Guardian · Özgün metin İngilizcedir.