While several cities in France have established a curfew for minors and others are considering doing so, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin clearly supports these measures.
Pointe-à-Pitre, Béziers, Nice, Pennes-Mirabeau near Marseille and perhaps soon Perpignan. The establishment of a curfew for minors has attracted several mayors of France in recent days, and it is not from the government that the councilors will find opposition to these measures. The Minister of the Interior was the first to announce, on April 17, the entry into force of such a policy in the Guadeloupean commune to prevent delinquency among minors in the city plagued by violence. “We cannot allow children of 12, 13, 14 years old, with weapons, to roam the street at 10 p.m., attacking police officers, attacking tourists, attacking passers-by" Gérald Darmanin then declared.
Now that the measure is gaining ground in some metropolitan cities, the tenant of Place Beauvau continues to say he is "in favor of the curfew which affects minors" and affirms to support the mayors who choose to introduce it in their homes: "I support them and the prefects of the Republic will support them,” added Gérald Darmanin to France 3 Occitanie, on Thursday April 25 on the sidelines of a trip to Aveyron.
The objective justifying the entry into force of the curfew is always the prevention of violence and the slide of minors towards delinquency, as explained by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal during a speech in Viry-Châtillon on April 18. . “We must not accept that this violence which affects the youngest must be encouraged by the irresponsibility of certain parents and the irresponsibility of public authorities,” added the minister.
All curfews in place or about to be put in place only concern minors under the age of 13. As for the time from which travel for the youngest becomes prohibited, it differs but is most often set at 11 p.m., as in Béziers or Pennes Mirabeau, west of Marseille. “It is not normal for children, adolescents, minors to be on the street at midnight, one o'clock, two o'clock in the morning. They must be at home, they must sleep, they must go to school the next day ", estimated the Minister of the Interior, agreeing with the opinion of the mayors.
Although he says he views these curfews favorably, Gérald Darmanin says he is attentive to the accuracy of the restrictive measures. “It is obviously necessary that the administrative court, if it is seized, can see that there is no excess of power,” he warned, without however being worried, describing the mayors who made the choice of the curfew - most often from the right, the extreme right or labeled various centers for the councilor of Pennes Mirabeau - as "completely reasonable people".
