France put curfews on its cities after the worst riots in years. The streets went quiet.

PARIS — France woke to calm streets Tuesday after the government imposed localized nighttime curfews across several cities Monday, following a weekend of rioting, looting and fires that turned cost-of-living protests into some of the country's worst street violence in recent years.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the measures had "contributed to the calm of the night" and would be extended Tuesday evening wherever required. The BBC reported French cities were calm overnight, with new curfews for Tuesday night to be decided where necessary.

The curfews were targeted rather than blanket. In Paris, protests were banned in designated areas from 8 p.m. and a curfew ran from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. around Place de la République and the Les Halles shopping area. In the north, Lille, Douai, Wattignies and Denain were placed under 8 p.m.–6 a.m. curfews on Monday and Tuesday to protect businesses. Nice restricted minors to home from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., and Marseille banned demonstrations entirely. Lecornu ruled out putting all of Paris under curfew but did not rule out a state of emergency.

The scale of the weekend's damage is stark: more than 2,400 people were taken into police custody over the weekend, according to the Associated Press, and authorities estimated around 3,000 businesses had been damaged or looted. Nearly half a million people marched across France on Saturday, after four weeks of student protests over overcrowded schools merged with trade-union and cost-of-living anger into a wider movement.

The political fallout has been swift. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez offered his resignation Monday — President Emmanuel Macron refused to accept it and instead ordered him to investigate the intelligence and planning failures that let the unrest escalate. Nuñez admitted police had "lost control" in several cities, and Macron acknowledged the response fell short despite the deployment of about 60,000 law enforcement officers on Saturday.

The government is also going after the looters' market. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin vowed an "unrelenting" response, directing prosecutors to treat cases as organized crime and extending detentions from 48 to 72 hours. Digital Affairs Minister Anne Le Hénanff summoned representatives of Vinted, eBay, Amazon, Leboncoin, Meta and TikTok to demand listings for suspected stolen goods be removed.

Another Saturday is coming

Organizers have called for another round of protests next Saturday, and the pressure is now on Lecornu's government to show Monday's calm wasn't a one-night reprieve. Commerce ministry officials announced partial unemployment benefits and a special support fund for affected businesses.

The unrest has spread beyond France's borders. Smaller clashes broke out in Milan and Belgium over the weekend, while protests over rising prices continued in Spain and Portugal — a reminder that the cost-of-living anger behind France's fires is a European story.