French authorities on Thursday imposed bans and restrictions on new protests following demonstrations last weekend that escalated into the country’s worst street violence in years. President Emmanuel Macron announced the measures after chairing a meeting with key ministers and intelligence officials, saying curfews and other security measures would be introduced…...
French authorities on Thursday imposed bans and restrictions on new protests following demonstrations last weekend that escalated into the country’s worst street violence in years.
President Emmanuel Macron announced the measures after chairing a meeting with key ministers and intelligence officials, saying curfews and other security measures would be introduced to restore order.
Macron also said protests organised by “groups without legitimacy” would be banned as the government moves to contain further unrest.
“The priority is a return to calm,” the French president said.
He added that he would chair another defence council meeting on Friday to determine “the next steps” ahead of fresh nationwide demonstrations planned for Saturday and subsequent days.
He blamed “organised ultra-left groups aiming to bring down the republic” for the worst of the violence, accusing them of “sedition”.
Officials are still reeling from the clashes, widespread looting and vandalism of public buildings that broke out on October 17, on the margins of mass demonstrations of more than half a million people against the surging cost of living.
Macron’s government has admitted police lost control, and candidates jockeying to succeed him in presidential elections in six months’ time argue that authorities are incapable or unwilling to calm the situation.
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A Paris protest Thursday organised by students — who had held four weeks of protests before the October 17 rallies — went ahead, with hundreds attending after an emergency court injunction overturned a police ban.
“The authorities are trying to make a distinction between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ protesters,” said a university student leader, Coppelia Moreau.
“What we are seeing is a government that doesn’t want any demonstrations at all. That goes against the right to demonstrate,” she told journalists.
Protests banned
Officials for the Bouche-du-Rhone region covering France’s second-largest city Marseille banned all protests there on Saturday. The region’s prefecture cited “obvious reasons of security”.
Marseille saw some of the worst violence last weekend.
Hours earlier, the authorities had declared a ban on “all protests” in the southeastern city of Lyon on Saturday.
France’s third-biggest city suffered the looting of 200 to 300 shops last weekend and the torching of a tourist office in what its mayor described as hours of “chaos”.
Other cities, including Grenoble, Rouen, Le Havre and Toulon, issued bans on protests in their city centres.
France’s interior ministry said “20 percent more” police would be deployed this coming Saturday than for last weekend.
In Paris, the city’s police said Thursday that the march planned for Saturday could be held in the east of the capital, starting at Bastille — but it was banned from heading into the city centre, where shops and major public buildings are located.
Yellow Vest movement activists organising the cost-of-living rallies along with unions said it did not agree with the order.
“We won’t sign off on it,” said Benjamin Ball, who runs an online map showing the planned locations of Saturday’s demonstrations.
Art Basel Paris, the capital’s biggest art fair, said it would shut this weekend, two days early, due to the protests.
The culture ministry announced the closure of several Paris museums, Saturday, including the Louvre and the Orsay museum, which houses 19th-century art including the Impressionists.
Detentions and dialogue
The French government has been projecting a firm response in the wake of last weekend’s violence.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said Thursday that 217 people of 2,700 arrested during and since last weekend had already been convicted and jailed, and that 1,000 more were being prosecuted.
On Thursday, a 66-year-old man was arrested over the arson last weekend of the 19th-century town hall of Limoges, prosecutors said. A man in his 30s had already been arrested Tuesday over the same crime.
Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader currently topping opinion polls for the April-May presidential elections, has accused Macron and his centrist government of being too soft and lacking authority.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, a far-left candidate criticised by the government for not strongly condemning the protest violence, blamed authorities’ “non-stop brutal repression” for the unrest.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Thursday hosted a meeting of top officials from France’s main parties. While most sent their leaders, Le Pen’s National Rally was represented by a lower-ranking party official.
On Monday, Lecornu will meet student groups, unions and the employer federation.
AFP