Paris police imposed an overnight curfew on Monday across two areas of the French capital in an effort to forestall further violence, following a weekend blighted by France's worst rioting in years, which targeted city halls, other public buildings and thousands of businesses nationwide.

The order is designed to safeguard “people and property from the violence and looting,” according to the Paris police statement.

The curfew bars anyone from entering or remaining upon the Place de la République — the scene of Saturday's rioting — as well as the shopping district of Les Halles, which has been subjected to looting.

A curfew is to be imposed from 11 p.m. Monday until 6 a.m. Tuesday; moreover, gatherings and demonstrations are prohibited as of 8 p.m., the Paris police said.

Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had issued a call for curfews that would be “very limited” and “localized”.

In northern France, local authorities have imposed a curfew upon children and teenagers under the age of 18 across several cities, including Lille, effective from Monday and for the ensuing two days, running from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Nice, on the French Riviera, has likewise imposed an overnight curfew for minors from 9 p.m.

Lecornu defended the police’s handling of the unrest, contending that “despite scenes of severe violence and extensive property damage, no one was killed, and that is a miracle.”

He stated that the specifics of the curfews would be disclosed later on Monday, following consultations with mayors.

Mass protests in France are frequently marred by violence on the fringes of otherwise peaceful marches, culminating in clashes with police.

Saturday's unrest evoked the riots that ensued after the fatal police shooting of a teenager in 2023, when authorities imposed local curfews, and the violence that attended the yellow vest movement, which began in 2018 over fuel prices and broader economic grievances.

The prime minister’s instructions follow Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez’s tender of his resignation on Sunday—a resignation President Emmanuel Macron declined “given the need for continued command of law enforcement in the current context,” Macron’s office said in a statement Monday.

He instructed Nuñez “to take all necessary steps to ensure full transparency about the failures in planning and intelligence-gathering that led to the violence,” the statement said.

Macron likewise urged the introduction of “new policing tactics on the ground as quickly as possible” so as to bring the violence to an end.

On Sunday evening, groups set fire to trash bins, bicycles and other objects in the streets and looted businesses in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and other cities.

That followed the violence during nationwide protests Saturday against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools.

At least 2,400 people were arrested across the country.

Authorities estimated on Monday that no fewer than 3,000 businesses across several cities had been damaged or looted.

In Marseille, the prefect enacted a blanket prohibition on all protests and any other forms of assembly from noon until 8 p.m. on Monday.

“I tendered my resignation because I bear responsibility for everything that is transpiring,” Nuñez said on France Inter radio.

“The crux of the matter now is ensuring that this does not recur.

… We manifestly need to become more adept at anticipating the kind of mobilization that is taking shape.”

Nuñez attributed the violence to “hordes of troublemakers and looters” and “far-left activists,” and asserted that police strategy must be adapted “in the face of extremely mobile groups.”

Authorities reported that contingents numbering in the hundreds sought confrontations with police and deliberately targeted public buildings, among them city halls and other municipal offices.

Nuñez acknowledged that authorities had "lost control" in certain major cities on Saturday.

“You cannot look shopkeepers in the eye when hundreds of businesses have been looted and assert that we have not lost control in some of these major cities,” Nuñez said.

Flames engulfed Limoges' 19th-century City Hall, in central France, precipitating the collapse of its roof and all but annihilating the edifice.

On Monday, cleanup crews and firefighters set about ridding the streets of Paris of shattered glass and other debris.

Ouri Zagoury, the proprietor of a video game shop near Place de la République in Paris, recounted that he had shuttered the store on Saturday afternoon, only to observe via surveillance cameras as looters forced their way inside.

“There was such a constant influx and efflux of people.

And even though I summoned the police, they advised against intervening, assuring me they would come, yet they never did, which constitutes another problem,” Zagoury said.

Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally party, cited the government's failure to forestall violence.

“The government has failed; the head of state has failed in his essential duty of safeguarding the French people,” he told reporters at the party’s headquarters.

“I call on the people of France now, beyond their right to protest, to use their voting power,” Bardella said.

He is campaigning alongside far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose polling figures have for months pointed to her as the front-runner in next spring’s presidential election.