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Curfews, limited transport and more riots: What to expect in France this weekend

France has seen three days of rioting following the death of a teenage boy at the hands of the police, and it's widely expected that trouble will continue over the weekend. From local curfews to public transport ending at 9pm and event cancellations, here's what to expect.

Published: 30 June 2023 16:32 CEST

Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP

Riots

Unlike trouble that flared during the pension protests, these riots are not linked to organised or declared marches, so it’s hard to predict when or if they will happen.

However most experts agree that it’s likely that trouble will continue over the weekend, and the riots that have taken place so far have all happened in the evening or overnight.

While trouble has flared in towns and cities across the country, it has been concentrated in the low-income and deprived suburbs surrounding the big cities, especially Paris.

Having said that, many smaller towns have also seen some trouble and a small number of rioters entered central Paris and began looting shops on Thursday night. Rural France has been unaffected so far.

IN DETAIL: Where are the riots in France?

If you’re in a city you’re likely to hear fireworks, as these are frequently fired at police as missiles. More than 2,000 vehicles have been set alight during the riots, so if you have a car we suggest avoiding on-street parking in the cities.

Public transport

Interior minister Gérald Darmanin has ordered local authorities to halt all bus and tram services after 9pm “until further notice”.

Cities that have a Metro, including Paris, can run their Metro services as normal, although police may close certain stations if they are close to areas where there is rioting. In this instance, trains usually pass through to the next station without stopping.

The regional Paris authority announced that the Metro will stop at 1.15am on Friday and Saturday evenings – instead of 2.15am as is usually the case at weekends.

Several other cities, including Grenoble and Lille, have seen disruption on public transport due to attacks on buses or bus depots.

National services like flights, SNCF trains and inter-city buses are running as normal, and road transport is also unaffected.

Curfews and event cancellations

The government has told local authorities to ban ‘big events’ – discretion is left up to local officials on what counts as a ‘large event’, but mindful of the possibility of trouble and limited public transport several event organisers have already called off planned gatherings. If you have plans, it’s best to check the venue’s website or social media pages.

Earlier in the week bars, cafés and restaurants opened as normal and saw standard levels of clientele.

Some local authorities have imposed a curfew, mostly running from 10pm to 6am. It is unclear how effective these have been, or how strictly enforced.

Some other towns including Marseille have banned protests – this doesn’t directly affect riots since they aren’t planned or declared protests anyway, but will free up police time from policing other, unrelated demos.

Policing

Expect to see lots of police around – 40,000 officers were deployed on Thursday night and similar numbers are likely over the weekend.

Police officers have been repeatedly targeted during the riots so are likely to be on edge – if they order you to clear an area or move somewhere else, we suggest following their orders.

The prime minister has also announced that police armoured vehicles will be used in areas where tensions run high.

State of emergency

Politicians from the right of the political spectrum have been calling for the government to impose a ‘state of emergency’ because of the widespread violence.

The government has opted against this for now, but says that all options remain open and the situation will be closely monitored.

Shopping

The sale of fireworks – routinely fired at police during the riots – has been banned, along with petrol in cans. So filling up your vehicle at service stations is allowed, but buying a can of petrol to refill a lawnmower or similar will not be allowed.

After several towns and cities saw looting on Thursday night, it wouldn’t be surprising if businesses decided to close early over the weekend.

Borders

Borders remain open, but customers officers have been asked to “reinforce checks but any kind of implement that could be used for violence” – so it’s possible that border checks could take longer than usual if you’re entering France.

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Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.