France calm under night curfews as government awaits new weekend protests
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High-school protests over falling standards and deteriorating facilities have spiralled into nationwide anger over rising prices and unmet health, housing and welfare needs.
PHOTO: AFP
- France was calm overnight under curfews after violent protests on Oct 17 and 18. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the curfews helped and could be extended.
- The unrest began with student strikes over falling standards and spread into anger about prices, health, housing and welfare. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said 123 people were held in detention and about 2,500 were still in custody for questioning.
- New protests are planned for Oct 24 by student union UNEF and some yellow vest groups. The government says it will learn from security failures, while unions like the CGT are not joining the call.
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PARIS – France’s cities were calm overnight under curfews imposed after a weekend of violence on Oct 17 and 18, as protest groups announced a new round of demonstrations for Oct 24.
Reeling from the unrest, the government is scrambling to reassure the public that it has learnt lessons from security shortcomings that left the centres of cities such as Paris, Marseille and Lyon largely unprotected from post-demonstration rioters and looters.
“The targeted curfews have contributed to the calm of last night,” Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a post on social media platform X, adding that the measure could be extended “where the situation requires it”.
Strikes and demonstrations by high-school students against falling standards and growing dilapidation have spiralled into a national outpouring of anger over rising prices and the sense that health, housing and welfare needs are also no longer being met.
Furthermore, the protests have stoked a febrile political atmosphere as candidates from the far right and far left lead the field ahead of a presidential election in April and May 2027.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin told CNews television that 123 people held over the weekend were in detention awaiting trial. In a separate TV appearance on the evening of Oct 19, he said around 2,500 remained in custody for questioning.
The calm of the night gives the government a breather after weeks of protests have exhausted the police and public authorities. But new challenges await on Oct 24.
“We carry on,” France’s main student union UNEF said in a flier posted on social media, pledging to keep up the pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and his government to fix what students and pupils say is a broken and under-financed education system.
Separately, groups identifying themselves as “gilets jaunes” (yellow vests) called for scattered protest actions against spiralling fuel costs. The yellow vest movement, which has largely calmed down over the past few years, emerged in 2018 during Macron’s first term over plans to raise petrol taxes. Weekly traffic blockades and bouts of street violence continued for months.
Lecornu vowed on Oct 19 that the government would learn lessons from the Oct 17 and 18 protests and ensuing chaos.
“There were things that went well, and things that were screwed up,” he said. “My determination to restore order is absolute.”
France’s main labour unions, including the CGT – often the driving force behind large organised demonstrations – have not joined calls for protests on Oct 24. REUTERS