Streets Quiet Under Curfews but France’s Anger Has Not Cooled
The French government has extended partial curfews in major cities after weekend riots and will deploy large police forces for new protests planned for Saturday. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said Tuesday that the curfew measures had delivered a relatively quiet night.
But the calm is only on the surface. The government plans to deploy large numbers of police across the country, including in the capital region, ahead of Saturday's protests, and will also mobilize troops from Operation Sentinelle, the military force assigned to counterterrorism security duties. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the troops will be deployed on Oct. 24 to prevent violence at protest sites.
Lecornu acknowledged in parliament that last weekend's security response had failed, while adding that he could declare a state of emergency if he judged it necessary. The government's position is that partial curfews are more appropriate at this stage.
What happened over the weekend
The unrest began with student protests that started in September. High school students protesting teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and aging school buildings were joined by citizens weary of the cost of living and by the Yellow Vests movement, and the protests grew to a nationwide scale.
About 550,000 people took to the streets on Saturday, Oct. 17, according to the Interior Ministry, while organizers put the figure at about 800,000. Most marched peacefully, but violence erupted in some cities. Shops were looted, and in the central city of Limoges, the city hall building was set on fire. The government said more than 3,000 shops and businesses were damaged or looted, about 2,400 people were arrested over the weekend, and about 1,000 police officers and gendarmes were injured.
Starting on the 19th, the government imposed nighttime curfews by region. In Paris, movement was banned from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. around Place de la République and the Les Halles commercial district, and nighttime restrictions were also imposed in central Lyon and Marseille. Curfews targeting minors were put in place in the northern city of Lille and the southern city of Nice, among others.
The political fallout
Nuñez offered his resignation on the 18th, saying he would take responsibility for the collapse of security control in some cities, but President Emmanuel Macron rejected it on the 19th, citing the need for continuity in security command. Macron did acknowledge failures in intelligence gathering and preparation.
Macron's own crisis management also came under fire. On Sunday, the president set out on a three-day Middle East tour of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar, saying he would address high fuel prices and secure energy supplies. Opposition parties and the media criticized the president for leaving the country while it was experiencing its worst unrest in years. Christophe Barbier, a political commentator on RTL radio, likened it to a plane without a pilot.
The damage to business also began to show in numbers. Carrefour, the big retailer, lowered its full-year earnings outlook Tuesday, citing higher costs and business disruptions from the unrest, looting and curfews, Reuters reported. About 50 stores were damaged on the first day of the unrest alone and many were looted, and the company said the damage could reach 80 million to 200 million euros in operating profit terms. Carrefour shares plunged 12.5% Wednesday.
The government is preparing state-backed job retention measures and emergency liquidity funds to help affected businesses. Insurers have also begun compensation procedures for the damage.
Why now
Behind the protests is a structure in which prices and public finances overlap. According to the national statistics office, consumer prices rose 3.1% in September from a year earlier, and energy prices jumped 21.3%. As the Middle East war disrupted fuel transport, diesel prices rose 44.1% and gasoline prices 25.7%. The prices households actually feel are colliding head-on with the government's austerity demands.
The government is squaring off with parliament over a 2027 budget bill containing a fiscal adjustment package of 54 billion euros, aimed at bringing the budget deficit, now 5.4% of gross domestic product, down to 5% next year. National debt has already reached 119% of GDP and is projected to exceed 120% next year. Parliament, where the government holds no majority, resumes budget deliberations on the 27th.
Protesters argue that spending cuts will make schools and public services worse still. The government counters that delaying fiscal consolidation will drive borrowing costs higher and exact the same price in the end. With neither side able to back down, the unrest has landed in the middle of the fight over austerity.
On top of that, six months remain until next April's presidential election. The size of Saturday's protests and the budget deliberations resuming on the 27th look set to be the two tests that define France's autumn.
