Overnight Curfews Bring Calm to France Protests, PM Lecornu Says; More Than 2,500 Arrested

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has credited localized overnight curfews in Paris and other major cities for providing a measure of calm after intense nationwide protests that have seen thousands arrested and sustained violent clashes between demonstrators and police.

Nighttime curfews went into effect on Monday night in cities including Paris, Bordeaux, Nice and Lyon as French police sought to combat rioting and looting associated with the recent protests.

The curfews came in response to protests over the weekend which devolved into the worst rioting seen in France for several years, with some demonstrators targeting businesses and government buildings while protesters accused the police of using excessively violent tactics.

The demonstrations initially erupted in September as a student-led movement demanding reforms to the education system. In recent weeks, the demonstrations have evolved into a broader movement demanding action to address rising costs of living.

The protests come ahead of the next French presidential elections in April 2027, which will mark the end of President Emmanuel Macron's two terms in power. Among the most prominent candidates to take over the office are Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally Party, and Jean-Luc Melenchon, who leads the left-wing France Unbowed party.

“Targeted curfews have contributed to the calm of this night,” Lecornu wrote in a post to X on Tuesday morning. “I thank the police officers and gendarmes who ensured their enforcement, as well as the prefects for their mobilization.”

“Tonight, new curfews will be decided where the situation requires it. These decisions will be made on the ground, by the prefects, in coordination with the mayors,” Lecornu added.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Monday that 2,513 people had been taken into custody amid the recent protests, with 67 people imprisoned. Nunez said that “dozens of judicial investigations” are still ongoing.

Nunez said that around 60,000 police and other security forces had been deployed around the country, though he admitted that authorities had been unable to suppress riots in cities like Paris, Marseille and Lyon.

“You couldn't look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and say we hadn't lost control,” Nunez told French radio on Monday, blaming “rioters, looters and ultra-left militants” for the unrest.

Among the most notable incidents of damage to public buildings occurred in the central city of Limoges, where a historic town hall was set ablaze on Saturday. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a post to X on Sunday that counter-terrorism authorities were involved in the investigation into the fire. “The fire at Limoges town hall affects us just as much as that of Notre-Dame,” Darmanin wrote, referring to the accidental 2019 fire that badly damaged the historic Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. “The national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office has positioned itself as an observer. It is carefully assessing the situation and will determine in the coming hours whether it takes charge of this case,” he wrote.

While France is reeling from its ongoing wave of protests, major demonstrations related to education and the cost of living have also been taking place elsewhere in Europe. Over the weekend, protesters took to the streets of major cities in Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Albania. On Sunday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a post to X that “criminals” had been seeking to “exploit demonstrations to seek confrontation and sow chaos” amid protests in Milan, where luxury shops closed early on Monday and boarded up their fronts. In Lisbon, protests set up a tent camp in Rossio Square demanding government action on rising rents and property prices, and Prime Minister Luis Montenegro acknowledged the concerns while warning against “importing into Portugal climates of instability and protest.” The question now is whether the curfew calm will hold, or whether protests will rise again alongside decisions on new curfews.