This is one of the little news items this Tuesday, following Prime Minister Gabriel Attal’s press conference on youth and “for a burst of authority”. Guest this Tuesday morning from BFMTV, the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, expressed his desire to reinstate a curfew for minors under 13, already tested in 2009 in his city. He was quickly joined in this proposal by Robert Ménard, the mayor of Béziers, who had already seen his 2014 decree revoked in 2018 by the Council of State, pointing out the absence of “precise elements likely to support the existence of particular risks relating to minors under 13 years of age”, remember The world.
All these beautiful people were preceded on Monday by the prefect of Guadeloupe, setting up a curfew in Pointe-à-Pitre between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. for those under 18. A “renewable” provision initially taken for one month.
A village of 1,300 inhabitants under curfew
However, there are other municipalities in France where these curfews for minors unaccompanied by adults already exist. This is the case for example in Cagnes-sur-Mer, a peaceful seaside resort of 53,000 inhabitants in the Alpes-Maritimes, which for twenty years has issued an order at the beginning of each spring prohibiting children under 13 from traveling from 11 p.m. in three districts of the city. Questioned by BFM TV, its mayor Louis Nègre praised a “very positive” and well-accepted assessment, the last observed transgression of this ban dating back more than ten years.
In Var MorningLouis Nègre clarifies his approach : “It’s not normal for a kid so young to wander the streets, all alone, when it’s dark. Something can happen to him. I made this choice out of concern for the protection of the child (…) It was not to fight against any delinquency. It was only a question of common sense and prevention,” explains the elected LR.
More surprising, this tour of France of curfews takes us to Montfaucon, a village in Gard of 1,300 inhabitants, which since 2022 has prohibited under-18s from being outside between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Olivier Robelet, its mayor, explains to BFM that it immediately “calmed the ardor (…) of young people [qui] had fun systematically cutting down the trees that the town hall planted. The elected official concedes that his village is not “a major source of delinquency” but that it “exists” and “is very expensive for a small town”.