French Town Imposes Curfew on Children Under 16 To Tackle Ongoing ‘Delinquency’

The French town of Joinville has imposed a curfew for all unaccompanied minors under the age of 16 in an effort to reduce the level of delinquency and urban violence on the streets of the town.

Bertrand Ollivier, the mayor of Joinville, announced that the curfew would be in effect until August 15th and will see all minors required to stay off the streets of the town between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. every day unless accompanied by an adult.

Deputy mayor Sandrine Jean dit Pannel explained the reason for the measure, telling broadcaster France Info: “This is to avoid repeated damage: tags, broken house windows, small fires… People are starting to get a little scared in some streets, and we want to prevent it from getting worse in the next few weeks, during the holidays.”

“We made this decision for the safety of all people. The gendarmes will be more present on the ground,” the deputy mayor added, explaining that youths in violation of the curfew will first face a warning and then possible fines.

Urban violence has become a major issue across much of France and attacks on police officers and even police stations have become relatively common by youths using makeshift weapons such as fireworks and rocks.

Earlier this month in Champigny-sur-Marne a mob of around 80 or so people attacked a police station following an arrest at a local football match, which is believed to have sparked the violence. Officers had to respond to the attack by dispersing the crowd with tear gas canisters.

Such scenes of urban violence have become so commonplace in France that last year around 35,000 police officers and their supporters took to the streets of Paris to demonstrate against violence against law enforcement and urged the government to do more to tackle the disorder.

Some even fear that the growing levels of violence may be leading France toward a civil conflict — an opinion that was expressed by French General Pierre de Villiers, the former chief of staff of the French armed forces, in 2020.

“Let’s not kid ourselves with illusions about confinement, which is like a lid on the pot: the current climate is gloomy at best, eruptive at worst, in any case very unstable. Everywhere, poverty and anger are increasing,” de Villiers said.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.