Police in Paris have extended the night curfew covering two parts of the city centre until the morning of October 26, keeping the restrictions in force through a weekend of planned protests.
The order bars anyone, adult or minor, from the central esplanade of the Place de la République and from a section of the Halles district between 11pm and 6am.
The city’s police prefecture said it had acted on instructions from Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. Metro and RER stations serving both areas have been closing at 10pm at the prefecture’s request.
The measures follow the worst disorder France has seen in years. Protests on October 17 drew more than half a million people and ended with shops looted, the town hall in Limoges burnt out and almost 2,400 people arrested.
President Emmanuel Macron said demonstrations not called by trade unions would be banned wherever possible in the coming days, adding that his general advice was for none to be held at all. Prefects would examine requests from unions and could move march routes away from commercial districts, he said.
Bans have been announced in Marseille, Nice, Montpellier and Nantes, as well as in parts of Saint-Étienne and Roanne. Lyon, where hundreds of shops were damaged, and central Toulon are also covered.
The culture ministry said the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Picasso museum, the Orangerie and the Grand Palais would shut on October 24. Institutions under its supervision were told to safeguard visitors, staff and collections.
Police numbers on the day are to be about 20 per cent higher than on October 17, with leave cancelled and Sentinelle soldiers deployed alongside the GIGN and RAID units. Armoured vehicles are to be used in the capital.
Two routes have been declared for the Paris march, one by the yellow vests and one by the CGT union, with the prefecture still to rule on them. The capital had already seen marches banned across much of the city for 12 hours on October 22.
The unrest began in September with school protests over overcrowded classrooms and decaying buildings, and later merged with yellow vest anger over living costs and fuel prices.
Unions have called a further national strike and day of protest for November 5. The disorder has added to the pressure on a minority government already struggling to pass a budget that must satisfy European Union deficit rules, with French borrowing costs rising and a presidential election due in the spring.
