Curfews: expired in Paris and Lyon, starting in Toulouse on 22 October — and a new protest day on the 24th

As of Wednesday morning, 21 October. The day before, several prefectures renewed or introduced curfews (couvre-feu) first imposed after the unrest of 17 October. The same day, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told the National Assembly, answering MPs' questions, that security for the next nationwide protest day, Saturday 24 October, would be "massive" (massif). He said the interior minister had already given instructions to the prefectures. No specific bans for Saturday have been announced yet.

In force this morning

• Marseille, Lille, Nice, Bordeaux. The restrictions apply only to unaccompanied minors: in Marseille from 22:00 to 05:00 in part of the centre and in several retail areas (no end date announced; for Lille neither the hours nor an end date have been given); in Nice and Bordeaux until the morning of 26 October.

Coming next

• Toulouse. The prefect of the Haute-Garonne has banned movement for everyone, whatever their age, from Thursday 22 to Sunday 25 October, 23:59 to 05:00. The perimeter is small and right in the centre: rue de Rémusat, place du Capitole, rue Saint-Rome, rue des Changes, place Esquirol and rue d'Alsace-Lorraine (the streets themselves included). The prefecture says the measure may be adjusted or lifted depending on how things develop.

Already over

• Paris. The ban on being present from 23:00 to 06:00 in the central part of place de la République and the Châtelet–Les Halles area ran through the night of Tuesday to Wednesday 21 October and expired at 06:00. The ban on undeclared gatherings near the Élysée, the National Assembly, the Senate, the Champs-Élysées, Châtelet, place Vendôme and the main stations ran until the same hour. As of Wednesday morning, no renewal for the night of 21 to 22 October has been announced.
• Lyon. The curfew on part of the Presqu'île ran from 21:00 on Tuesday until 06:00 on Wednesday and has expired; the ban on demonstrations and gatherings applied from 16:00 to 21:00 on Tuesday. No renewal has been announced as of Wednesday morning.

⚠️ Prefectures issue these measures for a night or a few days and renew them by a separate order. No renewal by the morning does not mean none will be issued later in the day: check your prefecture's website before the evening.

Figures for Paris and for cities without an official page come from franceinfo, citing AFP.

How a couvre-feu works in France

A curfew here is not a city-wide regime but a decision by the prefect (or the mayor) with a precise perimeter, hours and duration. It takes the form of an order (arrêté); the current ones run from a single night to a few days, and are then renewed or not. Last night's ban tells you nothing about tonight's, so it is worth checking every day.

Curfews come in two kinds:

1. For everyone, as in Toulouse from 22 October, and as in Lyon and the two Paris zones until Wednesday morning. Nobody may be out inside the perimeter unless an exemption applies.
2. For unaccompanied minors, as in Marseille, Lille, Nice and Bordeaux. Adults are not affected, but a teenager without a parent or legal guardian may not be inside the perimeter during those hours.

Exemptions and what to carry

Each order sets its own list. In Toulouse the prefecture lists: going to or from your home, temporary accommodation (hotels included) or workplace; urgent health reasons, such as seeing a doctor, getting medicine or a medical or veterinary emergency; and public agents and people carrying out public-service tasks (security, rescue, health, transport, cleaning, utility networks). Lyon adds family emergencies, caring for vulnerable people or children, passing through the perimeter without stopping, journalists and elected officials.

The practical point for anyone who lives or works inside a perimeter: the Toulouse prefecture asks people to show their home or work address by any means, on paper or on a phone. Neither the Toulouse nor the Lyon prefecture page mentions a special form, unlike the 2020 "attestations".

A breach carries a €750 fine (article R644-5-1 of the Criminal Code, as cited by the Haute-Garonne prefecture).

Where to check

• The "Actualités" section of your département's prefecture website (<département>.gouv.fr); the same sites have a "Recueil des actes administratifs" section, the prefecture's register of orders.
• In Paris, the police prefecture, including its @prefpolice account on X, which the press cites.
• Check again on Friday evening, before 24 October: the Prime Minister said new curfews would be imposed "where the situation requires it".

We covered the rules on demonstrations and ID checks in our post of 17 October, and support for damaged shops and their staff on 19 October.