In Lyon, one of France’s largest cities, authorities also renewed a curfew in the city center from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., saying no disturbances had been recorded overnight.
Marseille, France’s second-largest city, imposed a curfew for unaccompanied minors starting Tuesday night. Lecornu said the targeted curfews “helped keep last night calm.”
Student unions and groups from the “yellow vest ” movement, whose protests over fuel prices shook France in 2018 and 2019, have called for another day of protests Saturday.
Soldiers from Sentinelle, the anti-terrorism operation that has patrolled French cities since the 2015 Islamic State group attacks, will take over guarding sensitive sites to free up more police officers and gendarmes for crowd control, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told lawmakers Tuesday.
“The deployment (of police forces) for next Saturday will be massive,” Lecornu told the National Assembly, France’s lower house of parliament, without giving figures.
Suspect held over Limoges city hall fire
Police on Tuesday arrested a suspect in the arson attack that charred the historic city hall in Limoges, in central France, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said, adding that the person was being held in police custody and may not have acted alone.
French media reported that the suspect was close to radical environmentalist movements and was on a watchlist of people considered potential threats to national security. Darmanin declined to comment on the suspect’s profile, but said far-left groups appeared to have organized to attack symbols of the state throughout France.
Footage of the 143-year-old building in flames, its bell tower collapsing, spread widely online over the weekend. U.S. Vice President JD Vance shared it on X, blaming the unrest on immigration and writing, “I pray that France, a beautiful country of amazing people, will stop this madness before more of its landmarks burn.” President Donald Trump, who also relayed the video, said migrants had “taken over France.”
