France imposes local curfews in cities to prevent further looting

French authorities have imposed curfews in cities to try to prevent further looting as the country reels from some of its worst unrest in years.Hundreds of thousands of people took part in combined protests across France by students and people angry about the cost of living, in demonstrations accompanied by arson and looting that continued from Saturday into Sunday.Representatives of the Yellow Vest movement, which organised Saturday’s protest, declined to disown the violence and declared they would hold an “act two” protest this Saturday. “We were asked to condemn the violence, the riots, the barricades. To condemn the anger of the people,” the organisers said in a statement.READ MOREA man walks past a row of burnt out vehicles on Rue Yves Toudic in Paris on October 19th. Photograph: Kiran Ridley/AFP via Getty Images The damage in front of a devastated Monoprix store in Paris on Sunday. Photograph: Daniel Perron/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images “We refuse to add our voice to the chorus of indignation. We do not condemn this anger: we applaud it.”Coming in the buildup to a presidential election in the spring, the scenes of looting and burning of iconic buildings including Limoges town hall have led to bitter political recriminations, with calls for president Emmanuel Macron to resign or to declare a state of emergency.After holding a crisis meeting, prime minister Sébastien Lecornu said he was “absolutely determined to restore order” and did not rule out calling a state of emergency. “If needed, I will do it.”However, he told reporters that for now targeted curfews were a better solution and said he had asked local authorities to put them in place to prevent further nights of violence.[ ‘There’s nothing left’: French businesses count the cost of a weekend of unrestOpens in new window ]“The chaos, to put it bluntly, is focused in urban centres,” Lecornu said. “We are dealing with a very specific and widespread form of crime: looting and also reselling.”The economy ministry met with representatives of online retail platforms to discuss how to prevent looted goods from being re-sold and to seek assistance in identifying those seeking to sell stolen items.At least 3,000 businesses were affected, according to the government, with damages expected to amount to hundreds of millions of euro.Lecornu announced supports for ransacked businesses including furlough schemes for employees as he sought to staunch any wider economic damage. Municipal workers and a member of the public look at the burnt out remains of a barricade on Boulevard de Sebastapol during a clean up operation in Paris on Sunday. Photograph: Kiran Ridley/AFP via Getty Images “We need to get things back up and running very quickly. Obviously, we can’t risk losing jobs, and French businesses are major employers,” Lecornu said. “There‘s a need for cash flow. Many retailers had already stocked up for Christmas.”Almost 2,400 people were arrested during the weekend unrest and almost 1,000 police officers were injured according to the interior ministry.Interior minister Laurent Nuñez offered to resign following the violence, admitting police had “lost control”. Macron did not accept his resignation, instead asking for clarity about why there were “intelligence and foresight failings”.Nuñez announced that additional police forces would be deployed this weekend.French stocks sank when financial markets opened on Monday. The government now faces the difficult task of passing a budget through a hung parliament, balancing strong public opposition to spending cuts and bond markets concerned about French national debt.Representatives of the trade unions, which have called national demonstrations to demand pay increases on November 5th, have been invited to meet the government for talks on Wednesday.