France curfews calm unrest as Macron faces criticism over Gulf trip

A curfew is an official restriction requiring people to remain indoors during certain hours. It matters during unrest because fewer people can gather in places where violence, vandalism or looting may occur. The measure also makes unusual nighttime activity easier for police to identify and manage.

In France, areas including Paris's Place de la République and Les Halles, plus parts of central Lyon, had overnight curfews. Lille and Nice imposed curfews specifically for minors. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the restrictions contributed to a calm night after a weekend of protests and disorder.

Curfews do not address the grievances behind protests, such as living costs or public services. They mainly provide short-term crowd-control support. Lecornu said local officials would impose new curfews where required, suggesting restrictions could continue if violence or looting threatens public safety.

The riots affected businesses on a large scale, with more than 3,000 shops reportedly sacked, meaning looted or damaged. The exact final cost was not yet known. However, the destruction was serious enough for analysts to warn that it could exceed the losses recorded after the 2023 unrest.

Business group MEDEF said the lack of enforcement left companies feeling that the state could not perform its basic security duty. Damaged shops face broken premises, stolen goods and interrupted operations. The article also reports that officials planned a support fund and discussions with insurers to speed up damage assessments.

Jess Middleton of Verisk Maplecroft said the weekend's riots could ultimately cost more than the unrest after Nahel Merzouk's death, which produced around 1 billion euros in insured losses. The scale of damage may therefore increase pressure on the government to restore order and support businesses.

Riots create costs at several levels. Businesses lose stock, equipment and trading days. Insurers must assess claims and pay covered losses, while governments may need to support damaged firms and fund emergency policing. These expenses can worsen public finances when a government is already borrowing heavily.

France planned a support fund for affected businesses and talks with insurers to speed up assessments. More than 3,000 shops were reportedly sacked. The 2023 unrest after Nahel Merzouk's death generated around 1 billion euros in insured losses, and analysts said this weekend's damage could be greater. Financial markets also reacted: French bonds, stocks and the euro sold off.

The market reaction reflected growing doubt about France's ability to reduce its deficit sustainably. Higher borrowing costs make new government loans more expensive. That can leave less money for services or recovery, while increasing pressure to cut spending, raise revenue or reassure investors. The government targeted a deficit decline from 5.4% to 5% of GDP.

People had already been protesting because everyday economic pressure was colliding with concerns about public services and education. The article describes anger over living costs, France's education system and deteriorating services. These issues mattered because they affected household finances and confidence in institutions, creating grievances before the unrest became violent.

Hundreds of thousands marched peacefully during weeks of demonstrations. But pockets of violence later erupted, with protesters smashing shopfronts and setting Limoges Town Hall on fire. The article also notes that police had been accused of excessive force during student protests after a 15-year-old boy's hand was blown off by a stun grenade.

This combination made the crisis broader than a single protest. Economic frustration, service concerns and distrust of policing fed public discontent, while violence brought demands for order. The government now faces pressure to address those underlying grievances while preventing further disorder and rebuilding trust.

The trip was controversial because President Emmanuel Macron left France for three days as riots, looting and public anger intensified at home. Critics questioned his absence during what the article describes as France's most severe riots in many years. One commentator said there was no longer a pilot in the plane, while a newspaper sharply criticized the journey.

Macron visited Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. He said the tour aimed to address high fuel prices and secure French energy supplies. He also sought to strengthen defense and security cooperation with those countries. Those goals gave the trip an international and economic purpose, but they did not ease criticism about domestic leadership.

The controversy added to political instability while police, businesses and local officials dealt with the unrest. Macron had already declined Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez's offer to resign, saying immediate law-enforcement leadership was needed. The trip therefore became a symbol of competing demands at home and abroad.

The article places the latest violence within a pattern of repeated French unrest. Fabrice Le Saché said France had become used to riots, recalling the Yellow Vest movement and other protests, but argued that this episode had passed the level of previous ones. His comparison focused on the scale of disorder and the damage to businesses.

The 2023 unrest followed the death of Nahel Merzouk and generated around 1 billion euros in insured losses. Jess Middleton said the latest weekend's riots could ultimately prove more costly. The current violence involved more than 3,000 shops being sacked, according to MEDEF's vice president, and included a town hall fire and smashed shopfronts.

The article does not provide a comparable financial figure for the Yellow Vest movement. It does report that further violence is not inevitable, but protests over living costs, public services and education are likely to persist. That would keep pressure on the government to maintain order.

In standard public-finance terms, a government deficit occurs when public spending exceeds revenue over a period, usually a year. Public debt is the accumulated amount the government has borrowed to cover past deficits. A deficit is a flow; debt is the stock built up over time. Both matter because borrowing must eventually be financed through revenue, spending restraint or new borrowing.

France was targeting a deficit of 5% of GDP, down from 5.4%. At the same time, government borrowing costs had risen to their highest level in decades. Higher rates increase the interest bill on new borrowing and, over time, on refinancing existing debt. That can squeeze money available for public services or crisis support.

If investors doubt that a government can reduce its deficit, they may demand even higher interest rates. This can create a damaging cycle: costlier borrowing enlarges the deficit, which raises debt concerns and pushes borrowing costs higher. The article says this fiscal crisis threatens to become a debt crisis.