PARIS – Paris was quieter Tuesday after experiencing its first peaceful night following a weekend of some of France’s most serious unrest in years. Authorities introduced overnight curfews in several cities as they worked to prevent further rioting, looting and clashes.
At least 2,400 people were arrested after Saturday’s violence spread across France. Protesters confronted police, torched vehicles, broke into public buildings and set fire to a historic city hall during nationwide demonstrations fueled by rising living costs and deteriorating conditions in schools.
The unrest continued in smaller pockets Sunday night, when groups burned garbage bins, bicycles and other objects and ransacked shops in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and several other cities.
In Paris, the curfew began at 11 p.m. Monday and remained in place until 6 a.m. Tuesday. A police helicopter hovered above Place de la République, a key site during the weekend confrontations, using a searchlight to monitor the square and ensure the restrictions were followed.
Before dawn, crews brought in a crane to take down a huge fluorescent yellow vest that had been placed over the statue in the square. The gesture evoked France’s “yellow vest” movement, which began with protests over fuel prices in 2018 and challenged President Emmanuel Macron during his first term.
Workers also cleaned the monument, using high-pressure washers to remove graffiti from its surface.
“The targeted curfews helped keep last night calm,” Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said Tuesday in a post on X. He added that additional restrictions would be introduced that evening “wherever the situation requires,” with local prefects and mayors deciding where they were needed.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said in Lille that 149 people had been jailed across the country by Tuesday afternoon. The Justice Ministry reported that about 2,500 people had been arrested since Saturday, with more than 800 appearing before prosecutors. Most were either placed on immediate trial or told to return for a later hearing.
Paris prosecutors said approximately 300 people had been brought before them in connection with the Oct. 17 demonstrations.
Darmanin said he had instructed prosecutors to challenge sentences they believed were excessively lenient. He described immediate imprisonment for people without prior convictions in property-crime cases as “extremely rare, if not unheard of,” while insisting that the French justice system would respond with “extreme firmness.”
He cited the case of three men from Lille, aged between 20 and 25, who had no previous criminal records. Each received a 10-month prison sentence and was taken into custody immediately after being convicted of looting a video game shop in the city’s historic center.
France’s National Assembly is also examining what happened. Speaker Yaël Braun-Pivet said the lower house would open an inquiry into the Oct. 17 violence and the authorities’ policing response, with a report expected “by the end of the year.”
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Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.
