France, curfew in Paris until Monday and protest bans over the weekend

French President Emmanuel Macron has recommended that prefects authorize, over the coming days, only the demonstrations called for by trade unions, with routes that avoid city centers, in order to prevent fresh clashes following the violence of the previous weekend. The measure follows the unrest of October 17, when several French cities were the scene of looting and tensions with law enforcement.

Local authorities have fully banned demonstrations in Lyon, with similar bans also in force in Grenoble, Rouen, Le Havre and Toulon. In Paris, the march planned for Saturday has been authorized, but it will not be allowed to cross the city center. For Saturday, October 24, the ban also extends to Marseille and the entire Bouches-du-Rhône department, as well as to Montpellier, Nice, Caen, Angoulême and Saint-Étienne.

In Paris, some of the city’s leading museums have been closed on an exceptional basis: the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée Picasso and the Grand Palais. The Art Basel Paris art fair will also bring its closing time forward to Friday evening. In the affected Paris districts, a nighttime curfew from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. is also in force, extended every night until Monday, October 26.

The government has put in place an exceptional security deployment for Saturday, with the support of the elite units Gign, Raid and Bri. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that, since the previous Saturday, 2,700 people have been taken into custody. According to Le Monde, 217 people have been jailed following the violence and looting of last weekend.

Commenting on the climate of recent weeks, Macron stated that the violence “aims to bring down the Republic,” a formulation that signals the gravity with which the Élysée views the wave of unrest.

The two-track approach chosen by Paris — targeted repression in the most sensitive areas and a negotiating channel reserved for trade unions — thus sets out for the weekend a map of bans and authorizations affecting the capital, the South and several provincial cities at the same time, with a curfew that will remain in force well beyond Saturday.