French Prime Minister calls for partial curfews after weekend riots

PARIS, Oct 19 - French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Monday he had asked local authorities to impose partial curfews this evening following violent protests across the nation during the weekend. Lecornu told reporters he was "fully resolved to restoring public order" and that if declaring a state of emergency was deemed necessary "we could do so", but added that at this stage partial curfews seemed "more appropriate".

He did not say which cities would impose partial curfews nor what form they would take, although he excluded imposing a full curfew on the whole of Paris. "These curfews must be local and partial. It is out of the question to put all of Paris under curfew." Interior Minister Laurent Nunez also told reporters during the same press conference there were no plans to cancel Tuesday evening's Paris Saint Germain versus Barcelona soccer match.

The mayors of France's biggest cities on Monday demanded answers from the government to what they called a lack of preparation by security forces as the country licked its wounds from a weekend of rioting and looting. The protests followed weeks of student demonstrations with occasional bouts of street violence, rocking the country six months ahead of its next presidential election and increasing pressures over a weak economy and surging debt.

REUTERS