France moved Monday to put riot-hit cities under curfew after Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez admitted that authorities had lost control of the streets in several major cities over the weekend. President Emmanuel Macron refused Nuñez's offer to resign and then left for a Gulf tour to secure fuel supplies.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told prefects to impose "very limited" and "localized" curfews. According to France 24's live coverage, Lecornu ruled out a full curfew for Paris. He said a state of emergency could be declared "if necessary," but that curfews seemed better suited, adding: "I am absolutely determined to restore order." Marseille's prefect banned protests and gatherings from noon to 8 p.m.
By Monday evening, Lecornu's office had named the first towns, all in the northern Nord department. Lille, Douai, Wattignies and Denain will be under curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Monday and Tuesday nights, with each mayor's agreement, according to Franceinfo. Lille is where Nuñez said rioters broke into city hall, and Wattignies is one of its suburbs. Lille's Socialist mayor, Arnaud Deslandes, had refused earlier in the day to sign a curfew order, arguing that a late-evening curfew wouldn't match the hours the trouble broke out. Denain was already under curfew: its mayor ordered a weeklong curfew from 9 p.m. starting Sunday, after what the town said were fires, mortar fireworks and paving stones thrown at police by hooded rioters on Saturday.
Nuñez offered his resignation Sunday. He told France Inter: "I submitted my resignation because I am responsible for everything that is happening." The Élysée said Macron refused "given the need for continued command of law enforcement in the current context." Macron has acknowledged failures in planning and intelligence-gathering, ordered full transparency about them, and asked for new policing tactics "as quickly as possible." Nuñez blamed "hordes of troublemakers and looters" and "far-left activists," and said hundreds of businesses had been looted: "You can't look shopkeepers in the eye."
The numbers keep climbing. Nuñez put the arrests at about 400 on Saturday evening, Lecornu later said 1,200, and the Interior Ministry now counts nearly 2,400 nationwide, with almost 1,000 police and gendarmes injured, seven seriously. Authorities estimated Monday that at least 3,000 businesses were damaged or looted. AFP's report on Macron's trip puts the weekend total above 2,500. Paris prosecutors say 855 people were arrested in the capital on Saturday and another 208 on Sunday. Lecornu said no one was killed, calling it "a miracle."
In his Sunday address, Macron said "nothing justifies" what he called "unbridled" violence. He blamed "agitators from ultra-left fringe groups, joined by numerous delinquents," said he felt "anger and shame," and announced neither a state of emergency nor a curfew. Lecornu has since said a whole network could be mobilised to challenge the presidential election timetable. Jean-Luc Mélenchon's response was that the prime minister must name those involved and provide proof.
Macron's Gulf tour opened in Kuwait City on Monday, with the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar to follow by Wednesday. Executives from TotalEnergies and Engie are traveling with him to seek commitments on diesel and oil volumes, and the talks include moving pre-positioned kerosene and diesel from Oman to Réunion and Mayotte. Macron said the trip was needed to "secure our supplies," noting that demonstrators had raised fuel prices. Constitutional expert Benjamin Morel told AFP the tour could look like business as usual but might also seem out of touch and suggest a power vacuum. Francis Perrin of the French Institute for International and Strategic Relations does not expect it to move fuel prices, since Gulf states find firm commitments difficult while the region remains disrupted by the US-Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The protests were called over the cost of living and conditions in schools, after weeks of student protests. The CGT union claimed 800,000 marchers on Saturday; Nuñez put the figure at about 550,000, including 110,000 in Paris. The violence has been severe: in Limoges the prefect said the town hall was "largely lost" to fire, and a 17-year-old protester reportedly lost a hand in Saint-Étienne, apparently to a police grenade. A prosecutor has asked the police watchdog IGPN to investigate; Nuñez said he could not confirm that. The Yellow Vest movement has called for another round of protests on Saturday, France 24 reported.
Markets noticed. The French 10-year yield rose 12 basis points to 4.90% Monday, according to France 24. As we reported, French bonds and stocks dropped as the riots worsened, after we had described France entering a "point of no return" on Sunday.
Macron has refused an interior minister's resignation before. In October 2018 he turned down Gérard Collomb's first offer, citing confidence in him, and accepted a second one two days later.
Cover photo: A protester throws a cobblestone during an anti-government demonstration in central Tirana on October 17, 2026 (Photo by Armend NIMANI / AFP)
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