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U.S. President Donald Trump claimed migrants "have taken over France" and urged Paris to close its borders, as the French government ordered partial curfews Monday after a weekend of cost-of-living protests turned into some of the country's worst rioting in years.
"The migrants have taken over France. They must close the borders, fast!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The unrest, which saw more than 2,500 arrests and nearly 1,000 police officers injured, comes six months before France's presidential election and as fuel prices soar amid the Iran war, with French ministers blaming far-left groups rather than migrants for the violence.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said he asked regional prefects to impose "partial" and "localized" curfews starting Monday evening.
"It is out of the question to put all of Paris under curfew," he said, adding, "My determination to restore order is total."
He said the government could declare a state of emergency "if needed" but that targeted curfews seemed "more appropriate," and announced "a very significant, massive judicial operation" with nearly 200 investigators reviewing footage.
"No one was killed and I have to say that is a miracle," Lecornu said.
Lecornu blamed the "ultra-left movement" for seeking to "orchestrate deep unrest across the country."
"There is a whole network that could be mobilized to even call into question the timetable for the presidential election and the holding of the presidential election itself," he added.
Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon told Lecornu to "name and prove his accusation, otherwise, let him apologise, shut up and stop stoking disorder."
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez offered to resign, but President Emmanuel Macron refused and ordered him to "put an end to the barricades and looting" and ensure transparency over "intelligence and foresight failings," Macron's office said.
"On Saturday, in some major cities, you couldn’t look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and tell them we hadn’t lost control," Nunez said.
France deployed 60,000 security personnel on Saturday.
The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon wrote in Liberation that "for the first time, we had the feeling that whole sections of our cities had been left without protection."
About half a million people joined Saturday’s protests, organized by the Yellow Vests movement. More than 2,000 shops were affected nationwide, with damage running into hundreds of millions of euros, the chamber of commerce said. A town hall in Limoges was set ablaze, and luxury stores in Paris, including Dior and Louis Vuitton, were damaged.
More than 2,330 people were taken into custody, 70% of them adults, many already known to authorities, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said. Yellow Vest organizers called new protests for Oct. 24 and 31, ahead of union strikes on Nov. 5.
French stocks fell, with the CAC 40 down 1.3% in early trade and the 10-year bond yield rising 8 basis points to 4.86%.
"Those who demonstrate peacefully must not be conflated with those who commit violence," EU spokesman Markus Lammert said. "Arson, looting, and attacks on people or public buildings are unacceptable."
"While the power to protest is at the heart of democracy, this can never excuse violence," a spokesman for British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the images "fill us with great concern," but government spokesman Stefan Kornelius rejected fears of unrest spreading across Europe: "No, we do not share that concern."
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