French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced today that he has asked the prefects in the country to declare a curfew in a number of places, which will come into effect tonight, world agencies reported, quoted by BTA.
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 localities where curfew will be introduced will be published later today after talks with the mayors of the relevant localities, Lecornu added after a special interdepartmental meeting dedicated to the security crisis in the country.
If necessary, a state of emergency will be introduced, but for now, the curfew at the local level seems sufficient and a more adapted measure, Le Cornuy explained.
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 very holding“, 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 today demanded answers from the government 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.