France announces movement restrictions and aid for companies affected by violence and looting

Medeea Stănescu

19 October 2026, 13:27

International

Foto: Shutterstock

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France’s Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, announced on Monday, October 19, a package of measures to curb violence and support businesses affected by looting and destruction. The decisions were made following an interministerial crisis meeting attended by Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.

Starting Monday evening, prefects will be able to impose partial, localized movement restrictions, depending on the situation in each area. The map of the regions concerned was to be drawn up following consultations with mayors.

The government has not ruled out declaring a state of emergency or activating Article 16 of the Constitution, but the prime minister said that, at this time, local measures are more appropriate. Lecornu accused a far-left movement of attempting to create chaos and warned of possible challenges to the presidential election. A meeting with the interior minister and intelligence services is being prepared to assess the risks.

Starting Tuesday, affected businesses will be able to resort to temporary lay-offs, while a special fund will provide financial support to retailers. Police and gendarmerie forces will be reinforced, especially during the following weekend, when a new mobilization has been announced.

Context: France, during the month of violent protests—political condemnations, arrest figures, and injuries among law enforcement

In the days preceding the package announced by the government, Emmanuel Macron stated that people involved in looting and vandalism would face the law and asked the Government to clarify why the intelligence services had not anticipated the scale of the incidents. Meanwhile, the authorities continued the arrests: 855 people were detained in Paris, while the figures subsequently presented mentioned 557 arrests following Saturday’s violence (with the clarification that 433 were adults).

In total, estimates presented by the prime minister indicated approximately 1,200 people arrested, while the number of injured police officers and gendarmes reached 150. The prime minister linked the mobilizations to the scale of the protests (estimated at hundreds of thousands of participants) and stated that the police were analyzing video recordings to identify those responsible for the looting and destruction.

Also before the government measures, Laurent Nuñez announced the suspension of the use of stun grenades at high school students’ protests, after a 15-year-old lost his hand at a rally in Lens. The government cited multiple internal investigations into allegations of disproportionate use of force and separately promised an education plan by the end of October.