By Jean-Stéphane Brosse and Charlotte Van Campenhout
PARIS, Oct 20 (Reuters) – France’s cities were calm overnight under curfews imposed after last weekend’s scenes of chaos, as protest groups announced a new round of demonstrations next Saturday.
Reeling from a weekend of extraordinary violence, the government is scrambling to reassure people it has learned its lesson 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 X, adding that the measure could be extended “where the situation requires it”.
High-school pupil strikes and demonstrations against falling standards and growing dilapidation have spiralled into a national outpouring of anger at rising prices and the sense that health, housing and welfare needs are also no longer being met.
Furthermore, they have stoked a febrile political atmosphere as candidates from the far right and far left lead the field for a presidential election next April and May.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin told CNews television that 123 people held at the weekend were in detention awaiting trial. In a separate TV appearance on Monday evening, he said around 2,500 remained in custody for questioning.
The calm of the night hands the government a breather after weeks of protests that have exhausted police and public authorities. But new challenges await next Saturday.
“We carry on,” France’s main student union UNEF said in a flyer 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, was born 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 Monday that the government would learn lessons from last weekend’s 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 – did not join the calls for protests next Saturday.
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Jean-Stephane Brosse, writing by Tassilo Humme; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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