Story perspectives

Macron Refuses Nunez Resignation After Weekend Protests

By Drooid · Oct 19, 2026, 10:30 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Macron Refuses Resignation

President Emmanuel Macron refused Interior Minister Laurent Nunez’s resignation after the weekend protests.
Nunez told the Élysée that police had lost control of the unrest.
The interior ministry reported about 2,400 arrests and nearly 1,000 police injured.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced limited local curfews and rejected a blanket curfew.
Interior Minister Nunez said forces used crowd-control weapons 18,000 times and halted grenades after a teen lost a hand.

Summary

Lecornu Chairs Unit

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will chair an interministerial crisis unit at 10:00 CEST to assess economic damage.
The Federation of Commerce and Distribution estimates riots caused several hundred million euros in business losses.
Authorities deployed roughly 60,000 police officers nationwide on Saturday to confront the riots.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said 70 % of the 2,330 arrests were adults.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau reported 130 arrests in the capital between Sunday night and Monday morning.

History

Historical Context

The 2005 French riots, sparked in October 2005, erupted after the deaths of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré, prompting nationwide unrest. President Jacques Chirac appointed Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who dispatched roughly 17,000 police officers and recorded over 2,000 arrests across France. Today's turmoil, with President Emmanuel Macron retaining Interior Minister Laurent Nunez amid 2,400 arrests and 60,000 officers deployed, mirrors the scale and governmental response of 2005. Both episodes forced French authorities to impose curfews, reevaluate security policies, and expose persistent socioeconomic tensions in urban suburbs.

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Macron Refuses Resignation

President Emmanuel Macron refused Interior Minister Laurent Nunez’s resignation after the weekend protests.
Nunez told the Élysée that police had lost control of the unrest.
The interior ministry reported about 2,400 arrests and nearly 1,000 police injured.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced limited local curfews and rejected a blanket curfew.
Interior Minister Nunez said forces used crowd-control weapons 18,000 times and halted grenades after a teen lost a hand.

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