Police impose overnight curfew in parts of Paris

PARIS, Oct 22: Paris police announced a new curfew in certain areas of the city from last night to this morning.

France’s neighbours Italy and Belgium have also started to experience similar unrest, on a smaller scale. Italy’s government has ordered 500 troops to Milan to stem street violence there.

A representative of France’s “Gilets Jaunes” (Yellow Vests) movement, a grassroots group not tied to the unions, presented plans for a march across the heart of Paris, including areas that were ransacked just days ago.

Student groups have also called for protests the same day to push demands for greater investment in education. Yellow Vest activists are seeking to revive their campaign, which emerged in 2018, against rising living costs and declining public services.

Last weekend’s demonstrations rapidly degenerated into rampant violence, especially in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Limoges, which the overwhelmed police took hours to contain.

In a letter to unions ahead of yesterday’s meeting, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said their talks should focus on ensuring “the indispensable freedom to demonstrate”, which he said some were trying to curtail by associating it with “unacceptable acts”.

France’s main unions have separately called a nationwide mobilisation for November 5.
“There is huge and legitimate anger, and the answer to that situation is not repression. It is a political response. That’s what I will tell the prime minister today,” Sophie Binet, head of the CGT union, told RTL radio.

After the meeting, Binet told reporters the government made no new announcements, but did say that youth organisations would be invited for talks.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that "illegitimate" protests would be banned in the coming days and blamed "seditious" ultra-left groups and vandals for last weekend's riots and looting.

Speaking after a meeting with intelligence chiefs and senior ministers, Macron said demonstrations organised by groups such as trade unions would be allowed to go ahead but could be diverted along alternative routes to protect businesses.

"Last Saturday we had political and seditious acts by ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic," Macron said.

His comments came as authorities across France prepared for fresh protests following some of the country's worst urban unrest in years.

All protests planned for Saturday in Lyon, France's second-largest city, have been banned, local authorities said. Yet fresh demonstrations are already taking shape ahead of what officials fear could be another volatile weekend.

France's main student union, UNEF, has called for rallies on Saturday, while the Yellow Vest movement, the anti-establishment force that emerged in 2018, has filed plans for a march through central Paris.

Businesses in central Paris have begun boarding up their shop windows in case of violence. Luxury goods group Hermes said it had stepped up security measures at its French stores.�" REUTERS