Protests in France, Prime Minister Lecornu asks prefects to implement "curfew"

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that he had asked the prefects - gathered in a crisis summit - to "decree some curfews" following the violence, looting and devastation this weekend in Paris and other cities, as part of demonstrations against high prices and for better schools.

The last weekend was one of the hottest: there were 2,331 police stops. "70% concern adults, very often already known to the police", of which "over 80%" are the subject of judicial proceedings, said Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin.

The gravity of the situation pushed Interior Minister Nunez to resign: he admitted that the police had "lost control" in some cities, speaking of a "lack of foresight" in their preparations. However, President Macron refused to resign.

Meanwhile, the coordination of the Yellow Vests of the October 17 mobilization has announced a "second act" of the protest for next Saturday.

The curfews

Lecornu explained that the activation of curfews - measures which he defines as "partial" and "localized" - serves in particular to protect shops and commercial activities. The map of the affected areas will be made known after discussions with the mayors involved.

Commenting on the violence, Lecornu declared that ''a state of emergency'' will only be decreed "if useful", but at the moment curfews ''seem more suitable''.

Access to the Louvre blocked

In Paris, around fifty students blocked access to the Louvre this morning, October 19th. The students attend the École du Louvre, an art school with no direct connection to the museum, and organized the protest to show solidarity with the high school students who have been taking to the streets for weeks.

Macron: "Gaps in intelligence"

Macron asked Nunez to "adopt all necessary measures to ensure transparency regarding the gaps in planning and intelligence that led to the violence" during the street demonstrations and to "introduce new operational methods for the security forces" in order to manage the crisis, putting an end to the phenomena of barricades and looting.

Nunez: "Security forces deployed were insufficient"

During Saturday's protests, Nunez said, "you couldn't look the shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of stores were looted and tell them we hadn't lost control." There would be "over 2000" commercial activities directly affected, says the president of the French Confcommercio (Cci France), Alain Di Crescenzo, evoking damage amounting to "hundreds of millions of euros" on Radio RTL.

The minister acknowledged a "lack of foresight" in the deployment of security forces: the number was insufficient to handle the large crowds of rioters and looters on the fringes of the demonstrations. He estimated that about 60,000 law enforcement officers were deployed across the country that day.

The political clash

Macron attributes responsibility for the unrest not to all the demonstrators, but to "troublemakers belonging to a small far-left group, flanked by numerous criminals" and announced a crackdown: the prefects will be able to decide on measures to protect the cities, "up to banning some demonstrations".

A message implicitly addressed to Jean-Luc Mélenchon's France Insoumise (LFI), the radical left party accused of inciting the protests. "All those who today claim that the urgency is to take to the streets have only one objective: to steal the political debate", says Macron.

Mélenchon in turn accused Macron of aiming to "wear down" the situation. "We don't lead the popular movement. It directs itself through its unions and its assemblies. For three weeks, the deputies and elected officials of LFI have intervened in the face of police violence. This is our role", he assures.