Paris police issue overnight curfew in 2 areas of French capital to try
to prevent further disorder
[October 20, 2026]
By SYLVIE CORBET
PARIS (AP) — Paris police issued an overnight curfew on Monday in two
areas of the French capital, after a weekend marred by France’s worst
rioting in years that targeted city halls, other public buildings and
thousands of businesses across the country.
The order aims to protect “people and property from the violence and
looting,” the Paris police statement said.
The curfew prohibits anyone from entering or remaining on the Place de
la République, where rioting took place Saturday, and the shopping
neighborhood of Les Halles, which has been subject to looting.
The curfew will be in effect from 11 p.m. Monday until 6 a.m. Tuesday.
In addition, gatherings and demonstrations are banned from 8 p.m., the
Paris police said.
Earlier Monday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had called for “very
limited” and “localized” curfews.
In northern France, local authorities imposed a curfew for children and
teenagers under age 18 in several cities, including Lille, starting from
Monday and for the next two days from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Nice, on the
French Riviera, also imposed an overnight curfew for minors from 9 p.m.
Lecornu defended police handling of the unrest, saying that “despite
scenes of severe violence and extensive property damage, no one was
killed, and that is a miracle.”
He said that details of the curfews would be announced later Monday
after consultations with mayors.
Mass protests in France are often tainted by violence on the fringes of
otherwise peaceful marches, leading to clashes with police. Saturday’s
unrest recalled the riots that followed the fatal police shooting of a
teenager in 2023, when authorities imposed local curfews, and violence
during the yellow vest movement that began in 2018 over fuel prices and
broader economic grievances.
Macron rejects interior minister’s resignation
The prime minister's instructions come after Interior Minister Laurent
Nuñez offered his resignation Sunday. But President Emmanuel Macron
refused it “given the need for continued command of law enforcement in
the current context,” Macron's office said in a statement Monday.
He instructed Nuñez “to take all necessary steps to ensure full
transparency about the failures in planning and intelligence-gathering
that led to the violence,” the statement said.
Macron also asked for the introduction of “new policing tactics on the
ground as quickly as possible” to put an end to the violence.
On Sunday evening, groups set fire to trash bins, bicycles and other
objects in the streets and looted businesses in Paris, Lyon, Marseille
and other cities. That followed the violence during nationwide protests
Saturday against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools. At
least 2,400 people were arrested across the country.
Authorities estimated Monday that at least 3,000 businesses were damaged
or looted in several cities.
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Youths break a store window during clashes between protestors and
police in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
In Marseille, the prefect banned any protest or other gatherings
from noon to 8 p.m. Monday.
“I submitted my resignation because I am responsible for everything
that is happening,” Nuñez said on France Inter radio. “Now the real
issue is ensuring that this doesn’t happen again. … We obviously
need to be better at anticipating the kind of mobilization that is
unfolding."
Nuñez blamed the violence on “hordes of troublemakers and looters”
and “far-left activists,” and said that police strategy needs to be
adapted “in the face of extremely mobile groups.”
Authorities said that groups of hundreds of people sought
confrontations with police and targeted public buildings, including
city halls and other public offices.
Shopkeepers assess damage
Nuñez acknowledged that authorities had “lost control” in some major
cities on Saturday.
“You can’t look shopkeepers in the eye when hundreds of businesses
have been looted and say we haven’t lost control in some of these
major cities,” Nuñez said.
Flames engulfed the 19th-century City Hall in Limoges, in central
France, causing its roof to collapse and nearly destroying the
building.
On Monday, cleanup crews and firefighters cleared shattered glass
and other debris from the streets of Paris.
Ouri Zagoury, owner of a video game shop near Paris' Place de la
République, said that he closed the store Saturday afternoon, but
then saw looters forcing their way in on surveillance cameras.
“There were so many people coming in and out. And even though I
called the police, they said not to intervene, that they would come,
but they never did, which is another problem," Zagoury said.
Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally party,
pointed to the government's failure to prevent violence.
“The government has failed, the head of state has failed in his
essential duty of protecting the French people,” he told reporters
at the party's headquarters.
“I call on the people of France now, beyond their right to protest,
to use their voting power,” Bardella said. He is campaigning
alongside far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose polling numbers have
suggested for months that she's the front-runner in next spring's
presidential election.
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Tom Nouvian, Oleg Cetinic and Nicolas Garriga in Paris, and Lorne
Cook in Brussels, contributed to this report.
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