More than 2,500 detained as Paris courts expand fast-track trials
French police took more than 2,500 people into custody nationwide after a weekend of violence that left shops ransacked and public buildings damaged. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said police were combing through security-camera footage and social-media videos and promised further arrests, while authorities prepared for planned protests Saturday. The Wall Street Journal described the events as “some of the worst unrest to rock the country in years.”
Some 200 investigators in the Paris region were assigned to examine security-camera footage and videos posted on social media. Lecornu told lawmakers on Tuesday, “We have an enormous amount of evidence, images and videos, which will allow us to make many more arrests in the coming days, particularly of those who stole.”
About 95% of the people taken into custody were men, and 70% were adults. Some suspects were as young as 13, and many had been known to police or judicial authorities.
At the Palais de Justice in Paris on Tuesday, authorities doubled the number of courtrooms handling fast-track trials from two to four and scheduled more than 40 cases linked to the weekend violence. Across France, defendants appeared in court in connection with store looting. Some had been arrested carrying stolen luxury and sportswear goods, including merchandise from Louis Vuitton, Lacoste, Nike and Under Armour. Secondhand clothing platform Vinted said it was removing listings suspected of offering goods stolen during the weekend violence and working with French authorities to identify those responsible.
Outside Paris, police arrested a 34-year-old man on Tuesday in connection with the fire at Limoges’s historic town hall. The suspect was detained at dawn by an elite police unit. Police officers said he was known to authorities as a “far-left activist” and was on a security watchlist. The fire destroyed almost the entire interior of the 19th-century building, bringing down its roof and bell tower. France’s specialist antiterrorism police joined the investigation, and the suspect could not immediately be reached for comment.
On Monday, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin released details of several suspects placed in pretrial detention. Those included a 46-year-old arrested as he left a vandalized shop carrying new clothes, a 19-year-old found hiding in a fitting room inside a looted store, a 34-year-old repeat offender accused of resisting arrest and a 23-year-old with no criminal record who was found carrying keys to a scooter allegedly stolen from a shop.
The violence left shops ransacked and public buildings damaged, prompting criticism of the government’s response. Senior officials acknowledged that police failed to anticipate the scale of the protests and vowed to prosecute those responsible.
The events intensified a political dispute over immigration. Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, said Monday that France needed to stop immigration, claiming that many people arrested for looting came from immigrant backgrounds and did not consider themselves French. Bruno Retailleau, leader of Les Républicains, said the violence was partly caused by failed assimilation and called for dual nationals involved in violent looting to be stripped of French citizenship.
On the French television network CNEWS, Darmanin said participants came from a range of backgrounds and that police had arrested immigrants and French nationals. Jean-Christophe Couvy, a police union representative, said, “It’s a very mixed group. There’s no single profile.” He added, “You have undocumented immigrants, young people with jobs, minors.”
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said “organized far-left groups” had adopted tactics that caught police off guard. According to him, the groups did not clash with officers toward the end of marches; they attacked officers and government buildings earlier in the day, sometimes before demonstrations began. Police struggled to respond to attacks at multiple locations, and Lecornu acknowledged that the response had been “too static and not mobile enough.” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said authorities had underestimated the scale of the protests, expecting 200,000 demonstrators nationwide when 550,000 turned out. Some 60,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed.
As police confronted people in protests, Lecornu said other groups used the disruption to loot shops. He said those groups included young adults and minors, some already known to police, who had no political motives and coordinated through social media. Couvy said some looters scouted areas on scooters before calling in others. “They arrive in groups of 50, 100 or 200, like a swarm of locusts. They completely ransack shops and then leave just as quickly,” he said. Couvy also said the violence was entertainment for some younger participants: “It’s either this or Disneyland. They prefer this because it’s free.”
Authorities imposed localized curfews on Monday night in parts of Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice, restricting movement in areas where shops had been looted. The night passed largely peacefully. Lecornu said Tuesday that the restrictions had contributed to the calm. Authorities extended some curfews for a second night and announced additional restrictions ahead of Saturday’s planned protests.
Couvy said France lacked enough prosecutors and judges to handle the cases, while overcrowded prisons limited courts’ ability to impose custodial sentences. He said securing convictions was also difficult because officers often could not gather sufficient evidence while responding to the violence.
Separately, the government is pressing a bill dubbed casseurs-payeurs, or “rioters pay.” The legislation would allow courts to make members of violent groups liable for up to €10,000 ($11,200) in damage caused by other members and would make it easier to recover compensation from certain social benefits. The bill was scheduled for debate in the Senate on Oct. 27.