{"id":659368,"date":"2026-10-19T13:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T13:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/659368\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T13:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T13:34:09","slug":"french-prime-minister-calls-for-partial-curfews-in-bid-to-quell-unrest-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/659368\/","title":{"rendered":"French prime minister calls for partial curfews in bid to quell unrest \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

French<\/a> prime minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu<\/a> has asked regional governments in France to put in place \u201cpartial curfews\u201d in an effort to contain violent protests. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe prefects will discuss this with the mayors and their local chambers of commerce and industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lecornu said these curfews would be confined to certain areas of cities, such as areas with \u201cpublic transport connections, symbolic, emblematic places as well\u201d.<\/p>\n

He was speaking after a crisis meeting with government ministers on Monday as they discussed how to respond to volent protests that have rocked parts of France.<\/p>\n

Lecornu named the \u201cultra-left\u201d as responsible for unrest, with \u201ccriminal elements\u201d behind the violence later on. <\/p>\n

The French prime minister said there would be convictions of those arrested, pledging a \u201cmassive investigation\u201d to find those who had so far evaded justice.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0What\u2019s behind the violence shaking France, and what comes next?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Earlier, French<\/a> president Emmanuel Macron<\/a> declined \u200cinterior minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez\u2019s offer to resign after widespread \u200bweekend rioting, the Elys\u00e9e presidential office said on Monday.<\/p>\n

The demonstrations have been sparked \u200bby public anger over rising living costs, faltering \u2060public services and also the state \u200cof \u200cschools.<\/p>\n

Macron \u200bsaid Nu\u00f1ez should stay to ensure a chain \u2060of \u200bcommand is retained within the \u200bpolice and security forces, and \u200chas also asked Nu\u00f1ez \u200bto set up as quickly as \u2060possible new \u2060approaches \u200bto deal with looters, the Elys\u00e9e added.<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s rioting \u200cin France highlighted failings with \u200bthe security services over how they deal \u200bwith threats posed \u2060by far-left protesters, \u200cjustice \u200cminister \u200bGerald Darmanin said on Monday.<\/p>\n

\"France'sFrance’s interior minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez, France’s prime minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu and chief of staff to France’s prime minister Philippe Gustin. Photograph: Julien de Rosa\/AFP via Getty Images \"PolicePolice officers stand behind a fire near Place de la R\u00e9publique following an unauthorised demonstration in central Paris on Sunday night. Photograph: Matthieu Rondel\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Darmanin said \u2060the \u200bsecurity services \u200bwere very \u200cgood at dealing with \u200bthreats from terrorists \u2060and \u2060organised \u200bcrime groups, but less so regarding such far-left protesters.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, it is \u200cnot tackling \u2060the far-left effectively,\u201d Darmanin told \u200cFrance 2 TV.<\/p>\n

Politicians on the left and right had called for the resignation of Nu\u00f1ez over the weekend after the government appeared to have been caught by surprise by the scale of violence on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Nationwide demonstrations erupted into riots on Saturday, with a town hall torched, shops pillaged and buildings covered in graffiti as \u200cviolent groups \u2060clashed with police in cities.<\/p>\n

More clashes also broke out \u200cin Paris and Marseilles on Sunday, where riot \u200bpolice intervened to prevent \u200battempts to ransack businesses. <\/p>\n

On Sunday evening, by which time more than 2,000 people had been arrested in cities across the country, Macron criticised the \u201cunbridled violence\u201d<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWatching these images, we have all asked ourselves, how could French people do this to France<\/a>?\u201d he said in a televised address.<\/p>\n

Macron said \u201cnothing justifies\u201d violence, and that local state officials would be able to ban certain street gatherings if they deemed it necessary.<\/p>\n

He said a distinction had to be drawn between what he called genuine, peaceful demonstrators making demands over the cost of living and the state of the education system, and others who \u201cdestroy, ransack and loot\u201d. He criticised what he called \u201cfactious groups from the ultra-left, joined by numerous delinquents\u201d. – Reuters\/Guardian<\/p>\n

\"ProtestorsProtestors stand in front of a fire on a street in Paris as clashes erupted following an unauthorised demonstration on Sunday. Photograph: Matthieu Rondel\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"French prime minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu has asked regional governments in France to put in place \u201cpartial curfews\u201d in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9146,1814,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-659368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-france","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}