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Partial curfews are set to come into effect in several French cities following violent protests across France over the weekend.
Limited curfews are set to be imposed from 8 pm to 6 am local time in four northern cities on Monday and Tuesday, including Lille, according to the office of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
A partial curfew and a ban on demonstrations will also be introduced in parts of the French capital, Paris, on Monday.
The curfew is to be in effect from 11 pm on Monday until 6 am on Tuesday in several neighbourhoods, the Paris police prefecture has said.
Demonstrations are also to be banned in several areas of the capital from 8 pm on Monday until 6 am on Tuesday.
Nice Mayor Eric Ciotti announced that a curfew for minors would begin at 9 pm Monday and last until 6 am Tuesday in the southern French city. It will be limited to streets in the city centre, he said in a video address.
Lecornu had announced earlier on Monday that he had instructed regional authorities to bring in “localised and partial” curfews in order to prevent further riots and looting after cost-of-living demonstrations descended into violence on Saturday.
“On Saturday, despite scenes of extreme violence and major material damage, no one was killed, and that is a miracle,” the PM said following a meeting of the government’s crisis response team.
Lecornu also defended the work of police officers who had confronted groups of rioters.
It comes as French President Emmanuel Macron refused to accept the resignation of Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, citing “the need to ensure the continuity of the command of the security forces given the current situation,” the Élysée said in a statement on Monday.
The president has tasked the interior minister “with taking all necessary measures to guarantee full transparency on the failures in planning and intelligence that led to this violence,” the statement added.
Macron has also called for the introduction “of new policing tactics on the ground.”
Nuñez said that police had “lost control” of the situation in some cities.
“A number of measures to contain and prevent looters and vandals from acting” will be introduced “from this Monday evening,” the interior minister announced on Monday, adding that the number of police and gendarme forces on the ground would be further bolstered going into the weekend.
On Sunday evening, some groups again took to the streets to set fire to bins, bicycles, and other objects and looted shops in cities including Paris, Lyon, and Marseille.
Around 2,400 people were arrested across France over the weekend in relation to the protests, according to authorities.
Additional sources • AFP