Curfews help calm France but more protests planned

Overnight curfews in violence-hit zones of France’s biggest cities helped bring respite from the nation’s worst unrest in years, the government said, ahead of more protests planned for the weekend.

Buoyed by protests in France, crowds have also taken to the streets in other countries, including Italy and Albania, where similar anger over living conditions has led to clashes.

Reeling from a weekend of violence, the French government tried to reassure the public it had learned from security shortcomings that left the centres of cities such as Paris, Marseille and Lyon largely unprotected from rioters and looters moving in after demonstrations.

“The targeted curfews have contributed to the calm of last night,” Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a post on X, adding they may be extended further into the week where needed.

In central Paris, police emptied and guarded the Place de la Republique overnight, with a helicopter overhead.

In Lille, in the north, where the curfew only applied to minors, officers patrolled the city centre, checking bypassers’ identities.

Marseille mayor Benoit Payan said there would be curfews for minors around the commercial areas hardest hit by the weekend’s riots, starting Tuesday night.

High-school pupil strikes and demonstrations against falling standards and growing dilapidation have converged with a broader outpouring of anger at rising prices and the sense that health, housing and welfare needs are also no longer being met.

Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin told BFM television that 149 people held at the weekend were in detention awaiting trial.

In a separate TV appearance on Monday evening, he said around 2,500 remained in custody for questioning.

BOND YIELDS CLIMB FURTHER The unrest has stoked a febrile political atmosphere six months from a presidential election, with candidates from the far-right and hard-left leading the pack, according to opinion polls.

French government bond yields – the premium investors demand for holding the country’s debt – climbed further on Tuesday over fears of more protests, with ten-year debt reaching its highest yield level in 24 years.

Scrambling to find a way out of the crisis and re-centre attention on passing a budget bill, Lecornu has invited political parties from both his government and the opposition to meet for consultations on Thursday.

Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally said it would send a representative.