France's protest crisis has entered a new phase. Police in Paris have extended nighttime curfews over the Place de la République and Les Halles districts, while authorities in Marseille and Lyon have moved to ban demonstrations entirely as the government braces for a fresh wave of protests called for Saturday, October 24.
What the new restrictions cover
In Paris, the overnight curfew covers two designated zones — Place de la République and the Les Halles shopping district — running from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., according to a French news portal cited by MENAFN. Paris police have also renewed a ban on all undeclared gatherings between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. around key sites, including the Élysée Palace, the National Assembly, the Senate, the Champs-Élysées, Châtelet and the city's major railway stations. Paris police say the curfew will stay in place "for as long as necessary" after the first calm night since the violence began, EliteInfo reports.
In Lyon, the prefecture renewed a city-centre curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., moved the gathering ban earlier to 4 p.m., and banned all demonstrations planned for Saturday, October 24. In Marseille, Mayor Benoît Payan imposed a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew for unaccompanied minors starting Tuesday night, and authorities in the surrounding Bouches-du-Rhône area banned Saturday protests as well. Toulouse begins its own curfew Thursday evening, running midnight to 5 a.m. through Sunday.
What the protesters are demanding
The movement began with high school and university students demanding more funding for education, then widened as labor unions, farmers and other workers' groups joined to protest the surging cost of living and skyrocketing fuel prices. On October 17, around 550,000 people took part in 110 demonstrations nationwide, including 110,000 in Paris, according to MENAFN. The largely peaceful day spiraled after dark into what Business Day called the nation's worst unrest in years: masked groups clashed with police, torched cars, smashed storefronts and looted shops.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said 149 people held over the weekend were in detention awaiting trial, while about 2,500 remained in custody for questioning. Lyon's mayor said 150 to 200 shops there were looted, and officials estimate damage to around 3,000 businesses nationwide. The government has admitted it "lost control" during the weekend, and several countries have issued travel advisories for France.
Macron and Trump trade barbs
The unrest has triggered a war of words across the Atlantic. U.S. President Donald Trump used the riots at an October 19 rally in Kansas to argue that France was being "conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists," and wrote on Truth Social that "Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon," urging Europe to close its borders.
Speaking during a visit to Qatar on October 21, President Emmanuel Macron hit back. "There is no visible foreign interference in the events that took place, but there has been a foreign manipulation of information," Macron said, calling claims of migrant and Islamist invasion "completely false" and comments about the unrest "as unacceptable as they are stupid from many people, including foreign leaders." Asked directly whether he meant Trump, Macron replied: "Among others, but he is part of it," USA Today reports. Analysts told Al Jazeera that Trump's framing is aimed at American voters ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
What happens next
Student unions and yellow-vest groups have called for new protests on Saturday, October 24, and for strikes and rallies on November 5. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu met the mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon on Thursday and has promised a "massive" police deployment for Saturday. Macron chairs a defence council meeting on Friday to decide next steps — a sign that the battle over the right to protest is far from over.
Watch: Paris Riots: Curfew Imposed As Unrest Puts Macron Government Under Pressure — NDTV's video report on the curfew announcement and the clean-up at Place de la République.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0