France Orders Overnight Curfews in Parts of Paris and Nice After Weekend Riots

French authorities on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, ordered overnight curfews in parts of Paris and Nice, along with Lille, Lyon and other cities, after a weekend of riots and looting across France. The government chose targeted, local curfews rather than citywide bans or a state of emergency, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said after an emergency meeting of ministers.

Where the Paris and Nice curfews apply, and when

Paris: The Paris police prefecture ordered a curfew from 11 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, to 6 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, in two small zones. According to Le Parisien and RTL, they are:

• The central esplanade of Place de la République only, not the shops around it.
• The streets on the southern approach to Les Halles: Place Maurice-Quentin, Rue Berger up to Boulevard de Sébastopol, part of the Passage des Lingères, Boulevard de Sébastopol between Rue Berger and Rue Rambuteau, Rue Rambuteau up to Allée André-Breton, and Allée André-Breton itself.

The prefecture’s order says people who can prove they live inside the zones, people who must go there for work, emergency services staff and shopkeepers are exempt, Le Parisien reported. The prefecture also banned demonstrations and gatherings until 6 a.m. Tuesday around the Élysée Palace, the Interior Ministry, the Champs-Élysées, the National Assembly, the Senate, the prime minister’s office at Matignon, the courthouse, police headquarters, Place d’Italie, Bastille, the Bourse and all six main railway stations. For now, the curfew and the bans cover only the night of Oct. 19 to 20.

Accounts differ on who is covered. The Guardian’s live coverage, citing Libération and France 24, said the Paris measure applies to unaccompanied minors, people wearing protective equipment and people covering their faces. A police statement quoted by The Guardian said the orders bar anyone from entering or staying in the two zones.

Nice: In Nice, the curfew targets young people. Under-18s may not move about without an adult between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. in several central districts, including Centre-Ville–Vieux Nice and Trachel–Gare du Sud. The measure runs until 11 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25, RTL reported. The Guardian reported that Nice Mayor Eric Ciotti issued the curfew, saying it was meant “to protect the people of Nice.” The Alpes-Maritimes prefect added further bans, according to RTL: on holding, carrying or using fireworks mortars and other pyrotechnics, fuel in small containers, and flammable or corrosive products; on gear such as ski goggles, gas masks and helmets; and on weapons or objects that could be used as weapons.

Lille, Lyon and other cities

Lecornu’s office announced curfews from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Monday and Tuesday nights in four northern cities, The Guardian reported. France 24 named them as Lille, Douai, Wattignies and Denain. A curfew was also announced in central Lyon from 9 p.m. Monday to 6 a.m. Tuesday. Marseille, France’s second city, separately banned all gatherings and demonstrations on Monday.

Who ordered the curfews, and under what authority

Each curfew was set locally. In Paris it was an order (arrêté) from the police prefect, who is responsible for public order in the capital. Elsewhere, prefects and in Nice’s case the mayor acted under the government’s instruction to use “local and partial” measures. Lecornu said there was “no question” of a full curfew on entire cities. He added that if a state of emergency were judged necessary “we could do so,” but that partial curfews seemed “more appropriate” for now, according to The Guardian. In a televised address on Oct. 18, President Emmanuel Macron had said local authorities could ban some demonstrations, but he stopped short of a curfew or a state of emergency.

Scope of the riots: arrests, injuries and damage

The unrest broke out around the Oct. 17 national day of protest over the cost of living. Authorities said nearly 2,400 people were arrested, about 70% of them adults, and almost 1,000 police officers and gendarmes were injured, The Guardian reported. Authorities estimated that about 2,000 shops were ransacked or looted, and public buildings were attacked, including a town hall that was set on fire.

In Paris, prosecutors said 855 people were arrested on Oct. 17 alone and 557 of them were taken into custody, according to Le Parisien. Shops were looted again on Sunday night, leading to 208 more arrests and 145 people held in custody. The police prefecture said “young delinquents” were trying to loot shops around Châtelet and Les Halles. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said about 30 shops in the capital were targeted on Sunday. Place de la République, where Saturday’s march started, saw some of the worst clashes.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 60,000 police and other security forces had been deployed nationwide. He also said intelligence had predicted about 200,000 demonstrators, but more than 500,000 turned out.

Context: weeks of protest

The riots followed weeks of demonstrations that began among high school students in mid-September and widened into a broader movement over living costs. Our France protest tracker follows the arrest, injury and damage figures, with a dated timeline. Similar cost-of-living protests spread to other countries over the weekend, as we reported in protests spreading to Milan, Lisbon and Brussels. Earlier coverage includes violence at the France protests after Macron called for calm. Unions have called for a new round of strikes and rallies on Nov. 5.

Reactions

Nuñez admitted that police had “lost control” in some cities on Saturday. “You couldn’t look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and say we hadn’t lost control,” he told French radio. He added that the responsibility of “rioters, looters and ultra-left militants” should not be overlooked. He said he had offered to resign because he felt “responsible for everything that happened,” but Macron declined the offer, according to The Guardian.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said, “There’s no good policing without good intelligence.” He said about 80% of those arrested were being prosecuted.

Paris Mayor Grégoire said: “Maintaining public order is the responsibility of the state. It is the state that was at fault this weekend.” Marseille Mayor Benoît Payan called the situation “almost insurrectional” and said the government’s stance amounted to “petty political manoeuvring.”

Top photo: Statue of Marianne on Place de la République, Paris. Coyau / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped.

Sources

• The Guardian, Oct. 19: France imposes partial curfews in several cities, including parts of Paris
• The Guardian live, Oct. 19: French authorities announce partial curfew in Paris
• Le Parisien, Oct. 19: Paris curfew zones, hours and exemptions
• RTL, Oct. 19: Paris, Nice, Lyon: what the partial curfews involve
• AP News, Oct. 19: Paris police issue overnight curfew in 2 areas of French capital