French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced today that he has asked the country's prefects to declare a curfew in a number of places, which will come into effect tonight, world agencies reported.
The aim of the measure is to protect traders and shops after a weekend of violence and scenes of chaos in a number of cities across the country.
A map of the settlements where a curfew will be imposed will be published later today after talks with the mayors of the respective settlements, Lecornu added after a special interdepartmental meeting dedicated to the security crisis in the country.
If necessary, a state of emergency will also be introduced, but for now, a curfew at the local level seems to be a sufficient and more adapted measure, he explained Le Cornuy.
He accused the radical left of wanting to organize “deep disorder“ in the country before the presidential elections, scheduled for April and May next year.
“There is a whole network of different groups and structures that could become active and even question the schedule of the presidential elections and their holding itself“, Le Cornuy said after a meeting of the interdepartmental crisis group.
At the same time, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said there were no plans to cancel tomorrow's football match between “Paris Saint-Germain“ and “Barcelona“.
Mayors of major French cities demanded answers from the government today about what they defined as a lack of preparedness on the part of the security forces to deal with the unrest that shook the country over the weekend.