French authorities set curfews in parts of Paris on Monday in a bid to protect people and safeguard property after a weekend of riots, arson, and looting.
The Paris police authority wrote in a statement on Monday that it has issued “perimeter decrees prohibiting gatherings and demonstrations in certain sectors of Paris” that will take effect 8 p.m. local time until 6 a.m. Tuesday.
A map released by the police agency showed the curfew was issued around Place de la Republique, a major public square, and Les Halles, a market, from 11 p.m. local time. Both would be in effect until 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
In the city of Nice, Mayor Éric Ciotti said in a video posted online that he signed an order installing a curfew for minors in the central part of the city overnight. Marseille banned gatherings and demonstrations, officials said.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, who offered to resign Monday, said measures would be imposed starting Monday to prevent looting and vandalism, and more police will be deployed.
“On Saturday, in some major cities, you couldn’t look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and tell them we hadn’t lost control,” Nuñez said Monday, according to French newspaper Le Monde.
But French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that he would not accept his resignation, while on Sunday, he signaled that he would move to punish people who engage in rioting, looting, and arson.
“Those who destroyed must pay, those who looted must repay, and those who sought to bring down the Republic will have to answer for it,” Macron said.
The French president said that damage was caused by “seditious elements from ultra-left splinter groups” alongside “many criminals.” A 19th-century city hall in the city of Limoges in central France that was burned during the riots was singled out by Macron in his address.
A march on Oct. 17 came after weeks of demonstrations by high school students protesting teacher shortages and poor-quality school buildings in suburbs with large immigrant populations, including descendants of immigrants from former French colonies in Africa.
The protest, organized by left-wing groups, was against rising prices and government spending cuts, and calls went around online to revive the Yellow Vest movement of 2018, which protested the high cost of living.
A masked protester erects a barricade beside burning debris outside Café Le Brébant on Boulevard Poissonnière amid violent protests that swept through Paris on Oct. 17, 2026. (Etienne Fauchaire/The Epoch Times)
“The migrants have taken over France,” Trump said Monday in a Truth Social post. “They must CLOSE THE BORDERS, FAST!”
Meanwhile, Vance said in a post on X that liberals in France and Europe “imported the third world into France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion” and said they did not act to ensure those individuals assimilated into French society.
France deployed 60,000 police and other security forces on Saturday, Nuñez told France Inter radio, but he acknowledged that was not enough to control violent crowds.
Cost-of-living issues also drove weekend protests in other European countries, including Italy, Belgium, and Albania. As France was busy cleaning up its streets, Macron arrived in Kuwait for a Gulf trip aimed at securing additional petrol and diesel supplies to bring down gas prices.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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