France restricts fresh protests after cost-of-living rallies turn violent

French authorities have banned or limited fresh protests in several cities after cost-of-living demonstrations drew more than 500,000 people and were accompanied by violence, looting and vandalism, according to The Korea Times.

The restrictions have brought public-order measures into conflict with demands to preserve the right to demonstrate. A court overturned a ban on a Paris student protest, while organizers opposed limits on the route of Saturday's march.

President Emmanuel Macron said curfews and other security measures would be imposed and planned to chair a defense council meeting Friday, The Korea Times reported. He said he would not declare a state of emergency.

Authorities barred all protests in Lyon on Saturday. Grenoble, Rouen, Le Havre and Toulon prohibited demonstrations in their city centers. In Paris, police allowed a Saturday march beginning at Bastille in the eastern part of the capital but barred it from entering the city center.

The Yellow Vest movement, which is organizing the rallies with unions, opposed the Paris route limits. Hundreds attended a student protest in the capital Thursday after an emergency court injunction lifted a police ban, according to the newspaper.

The interior ministry said Saturday's police deployment would be 20% larger than the previous weekend's. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said 2,700 people had been arrested during and since that weekend, with 217 locked up and another 1,000 facing prosecution.

The unrest also affected businesses and cultural events. Between 200 and 300 shops were looted in Lyon during the previous weekend, the newspaper reported. Art Basel Paris said it would close for the weekend, two days earlier than planned.

Alongside the security response, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu met representatives of major political parties and planned further talks with mayors, student groups, unions and the employer federation, according to The Korea Times.