France: Nuñez tells prefects to ban protests that could disturb public order on Saturday; Lecornu speaks of an "insurrectional scheme"

Update, 7:11am GMT Wednesday: A representative of the “gilets jaunes” coordination behind the 17 October protests, Benjamin Ball, told France 2 that he had filed a declaration with the Paris police prefecture for a march on Saturday 24 October from Place de la Bastille to Opéra, La Croix reported, citing AFP. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on Tuesday evening that of 557 people taken into custody after the violence and looting in Paris, 300 had so far appeared before a magistrate and none had claimed a political motive, La Croix reported; the government has blamed the “ultra-left” for the violence. Political parties have been invited to Matignon on Thursday, and President Emmanuel Macron asked the prime minister to hold the meeting, La Croix said. Lecornu’s meeting with the unions was due at 10:30am Paris time (8:30am GMT). Figures as of 7:11am GMT.

Update, 1:00am GMT Wednesday: Localised curfews were in force for a second consecutive night on Tuesday, AFP reported, including in central Marseille from 10pm, at least until Friday. In Toulouse a night-time curfew around the Capitole and central shopping streets is planned from Thursday to Sunday. Around the Forum des Halles in Paris the area was “unusually calm” shortly before 11pm, with police and gendarmes deployed in large numbers, AFP said. The Defender of Rights, which oversees police conduct, said it had received 46 complaints since the start of the high-school protest movement, more than ten of them about events at the weekend. Lecornu is due to meet the five representative unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFTC and CFE-CGC) at Matignon at 10:30am Paris time (8:30am GMT) on Wednesday, with Nuñez and Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou, franceinfo reported. The CFDT and CGT criticised the absence of high-school organisations from the meeting, AFP reported. New protests are planned for Saturday, called by “gilets jaunes” and high-school groups, and by the unions on 5 November.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez on Tuesday 20 October instructed prefects to ban protests planned for Saturday 24 October that are “likely to disturb public order”, according to a telegram seen by BFMTV and Le Parisien (our translation). For protests that go ahead, he asked them to favour routes away from public buildings and shopping streets, step up intelligence work and consider “partial and targeted curfews”, both outlets reported.

In the National Assembly, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the violence of 17 October followed the “planning … of an insurrectional scheme led by far-left and ultra-left groups”, BFMTV and Le Parisien reported. He also said intelligence services “saw a lot of things but not everything”. France Unbowed (LFI) coordinator Manuel Bompard accused the government of manipulating intelligence services to blame his party; Nuñez said the accusation was “false”.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said 149 people had been jailed and more than 800 brought before the courts, Le Parisien and BFMTV reported. The Paris police prefecture said investigations had been opened into the deaths of two men on public streets in Paris on 17 and 19 October, with no third-party responsibility suspected at this stage, according to BFMTV and Le Parisien. The police watchdog IGPN has opened six investigations into alleged violence by officers, AFP reported. Parliamentary groups agreed to set up a commission of inquiry, BFMTV and L’Humanité reported.

In a letter to party leaders ahead of Thursday’s meeting at Matignon, Lecornu wrote that the talks “will only make sense” if all share “the condemnation of violence”, BFMTV and Le Parisien reported.

Figures as of 7:06pm GMT. See also: our previous report on the curfews.