In brief
Of 25 people brought before a judge on Monday, 19 October, 18 were convicted, with prison terms of four to ten months and suspended terms of eight to 24 months.
About 70 cases were heard in Paris on Tuesday, 20 October, mostly against young men, with roughly half of arrests for property offences and about 10% for violence against officers.
Official figures cited in the reporting put arrests at 2,397 nationwide and 997 injured security personnel, while Paris prosecutors reported 855 arrests.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced a massive police deployment for 24 October, when the Yellow Vest movement has called a second act, and Operation Sentinelle soldiers are to be used.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez acknowledged the policing failure and offered his resignation to Emmanuel Macron, who refused.
Fast-track verdicts begin
Courts in several French cities have started issuing first sentences in expedited procedures after the looting and rioting of Saturday, 17 October. In Lyon, 25 people were brought before a judge on Monday, 19 October, 21 of them adults and four minors, and 18 were convicted. The penalties ranged from four to ten months in prison to suspended terms of eight to 24 months. Five people were also barred from entering the Rhône region, some for two to three years, and most of them had no prior convictions. In Paris about 70 cases were heard on Tuesday, 20 October. Available reporting still does not give a consistent picture of the events, and the sentences so far are generally mild, often because the evidence is thin.
Who was arrested
Almost all defendants so far are young men, many of them in training, studying or already employed, and few have a criminal record. Many were caught with suspected stolen goods on the street or as they left a shop. In Paris roughly half of the arrests concerned property offences and about 10% concerned violence against officers. Official figures cited in the reporting put the national total at 2,397 arrests and 997 injured security personnel. Prosecutors in Paris reported 855 arrests, with 557 people taken into police custody. The protests had started as a student movement over crumbling classrooms and a shortage of teachers, and were later joined by parents and unions.
- Nationwide (official figures)
- 2397 arrests
- Paris (prosecutors)
- 855 arrests
Data from the article text
How the government responded
On Saturday the police lost control in many places, and the authorities had underestimated the number of demonstrators, according to a Neue Zürcher Zeitung account. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, a former Paris police prefect, acknowledged the failure and offered President Emmanuel Macron his resignation. Macron declined, and the Élysée Palace said the leadership of the security forces had to be preserved in a tense situation. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced a massive police deployment for 24 October, when the Yellow Vest movement has called for a second act of mobilisation. Soldiers from Operation Sentinelle are also to be used. That counter-terror mission was mobilised in spring 2019 to guard public buildings during Gilets Jaunes unrest, and Nuñez said it would give police more forces and more flexibility against rioters and looters. In Limoges, a 34-year-old man was arrested near the city on Tuesday on suspicion of taking part in the arson of the historic town hall, whose bell tower collapsed.
Foreign influence and online narratives
Austria says it has received signs of foreign interference in the unrest in France. After a cabinet meeting in Vienna on Wednesday, 21 October, Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said Vienna was in contact with the French foreign ministry on the matter.
“Relevant indications have come in from several sides.”
A new study cited in the reporting says pro-Kremlin networks used public discontent to stir up opposition to aid for Ukraine. Online, a woman filmed trying to stop looters outside a Paris supermarket has become a target of mockery and false claims. According to the fact-checking portal Lakmusz, one post claiming she was a migration activist was shared more than 1,000 times, and deepfakes are circulating that show her as a Gaza activist. Her identity is unknown, and none of these claims has been verified.