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The first curfews went into effect on Monday night in several French cities, as the government, subject to a barrage of criticism from all political sectors, reaffirms its promise of firmness in the criminal response against those responsible for the recent looting and acts of violence.
In the cities of Lyon, Lille, and also Nice, curfews began between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM on Monday (6-7:00 PM GMT), only in certain zones of these metropolitan areas. As for Lille and Nice, these movement restrictions only apply to unaccompanied minors.
In Paris, the Place de la République and the Les Halles neighborhood, the scene of numerous lootings in recent days, will be affected starting at 11:00 PM local time. Demonstrating there is also prohibited from 8:00 PM, as it is in other neighborhoods of Paris.
According to official sources, there are 67 people arrested for the riots.
- Against the ropes -
France remains in shock from the scenes of chaos experienced on Saturday and, to a lesser extent, on Sunday night, when hooded protesters looted hundreds of stores and set fire to the Limoges city hall in the center of the country.
To curb this "rampant violence," in the words of President Emmanuel Macron, authorities decreed partial curfews in several cities.
The government's goal is to restore order while analyzing the "failures" in police management, as the president acknowledged, and searching for the perpetrators of the excesses.
At the same time, the lawyer for the minor who had a hand amputated by a grenade in Saint-Étienne announced on Monday that he had filed a complaint against the person who fired the grenade, as well as against the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez.
A complaint has been filed against the minister with the Court of Justice of the Republic for "complicity in aggravated violence," indicated in a statement Yassine Bouzrou, lawyer for the 17-year-old seriously injured on Saturday during the protests against "the high cost of living."
- "They destroyed everything" -
The outburst of violence occurred in the context of a massive protest against the high cost of living called on Saturday through social media and linked to the Yellow Vest movement, which already shook Macron's first term in 2018 and 2019.
But France is not the only country in Europe affected by the rising cost of living, especially following the conflict in the Middle East. Cities in Belgium and Italy also recorded demonstrations, riots, and looting over the weekend.
These acts "are unacceptable," stressed European Commission spokesman Markus Lammert.
In France, the government estimated that more than 3,000 businesses were affected and even asked online resale platforms to remove listings originating from this looting.
Assia Sanaa, manager of seven Shinzo athletic shoe stores in Paris, is one of those affected.
"Suddenly at nightfall, hordes of well-organized, methodical groups arrived, about 20 or 30 people at a time (...) They destroyed everything, everything, everything and looted and stole," she explained to AFP.
[Publicidad]