France protests: Curfews quell unrest as Macron visits Gulf

Curfews contributed to a “calm” night across France, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Tuesday, even as public discontent remained high after mass protests, looting and scenes of violence over the weekend.

Some areas of several French cities were subject to an overnight curfew, including Place de la République and Les Halles in Paris, as well as parts of central Lyon. Lille and Nice were among the cities to impose a curfew on minors.

The unrest comes at a particularly fragile time for France, where public anger over the cost of living and deteriorating services collides with political instability and a budget crisis that threatens to turn into a debt crisis as government borrowing costs reach their highest level in decades.

The country faces a divided parliament, without a majority, and presidential elections in April 2027.

In a statement released Tuesday, Lecornu said local authorities would impose new curfews if necessary.

Meanwhile, criticism is mounting over President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to embark on a three-day tour of the Middle East, as France endures its most serious riots in many years.

The riots followed weeks of protests over the country’s education system, the cost of living and other issues.

As hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully, pockets of violence erupted, shocking the country, when protesters destroyed storefronts and burned down Limoges city hall.

Political commentator Christophe Barbier declared on RTL radio on Monday that there was “no more pilot on the plane”. At the same time, the newspaper La Dépêche du Midi wrote in a scathing editorial that Macron must “see if the misery of a vilified president is less painful under the sun of the Persian Gulf” as France “sinks deeper into crisis”.

Macron said on Sunday he was seeking to address high fuel prices and secure France’s energy supplies with a trip to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar, while boosting defense and security cooperation.

Public opinion is also angry over claims that police lost control of the situation over the weekend as unrest and looting intensified. Earlier this month, police were accused of excessive use of force in their response to student protests, after a 15-year-old boy’s hand was blown off by a stun grenade.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez offered to leave his post on Monday after claiming responsibility for what happened. Macron refused his resignation, saying immediate direction from law enforcement was necessary.

“The lack of control means that more than 3,000 stores have been made redundant, and for the economy today we wake up with the feeling that the state cannot perform the basic duty that it is supposed to do, and that now creates sort of a lack of trust,” Fabrice Le Saché, vice president of the MEDEF group of companies, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday.

“It’s dangerous because we have been used to riots in our country – remember the Yellow Vests and other movements – but this one has exceeded, I think, the level of the previous ones, and we cannot continue to experience the same type of situation every time we have social unrest,” Le Saché said.

French companies have one of the highest tax burdens in the euro zone, but they now feel they cannot benefit from basic security in return, he added.

Lecornu said Monday that a support fund would be created for damaged or looted businesses, and that the government would talk with insurers to speed up assessments.

“The scale of the damage suggests that this weekend’s riots could prove more costly than the unrest following Nahel Merzouk’s death in 2023,” which generated about 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) in insured losses, Jess Middleton, senior Europe analyst at risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft, said by email.

“Further violence is not inevitable, but protests linked to underlying grievances, including pressures over the cost of living and dissatisfaction with public services and education, are likely to persist, putting continued pressure on the government to demonstrate that it can maintain order,” Middleton said.

French markets were under pressure on Monday after the weekend’s scenes, with sales in bonds, stocks and the euro, amid growing skepticism about the country’s ability to bring its deficit to a sustainable level.

A fierce debate is underway over the 2027 budget, with the government aiming for an overall reduction in the deficit from 5.4% to 5% of GDP.