That news story is interesting. I’m sure all the rioters will quietly go home as soon as the curfew begins. 
French jails are considered the worst in Europe.
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2127412005
Anyone caught after curfew will be locked in those rat-infested Middle Age dungeons.
Let’s see if this has any influence. If this is supposed to work the police had better have lots of paddy wagons and lots of access to jails all over the country.
This is one of the big measures used by the police here in Cincinnati during our riots a few years ago.
Anyone out on the streets after curfew gets arrested. Seems like a useful beginning to me.
What would you suggest instead?
Uh, arrest the rioters and not the other innocent people who might be out after curfew?
You believe those who are burning, pillaging and killing will be afraid of violating a curfew? Wow!
A couple precisions :
The government actually declared a state of emergency. But didn’t announce what kind of measures, if any, will be taken as a result, apart from allowing local authorities to decree curfews.
Only a handful of towns actually did so, and in most cases it applies only to minors (both to protect then and because a lot of rioters are minors). People not respecting the curfew can be arrested and sentenced both to jail time and a high fine.
I think (just my idea, though) that it will allow the police to arrest people on mere suspicion instead of “let’s wait until they gather in a crowd and begin to launch petrol bombs at some car or at us”
By the way, I think more than a thousand people have already been arrested since the beginning of the riots but it didn’t seem to have changed anything. Though they also announced things are calming down a little (like in 1200 vehicles burned instead of 1400 the previous night), especially in the subburbs of Paris.
Clairobscur has it right, I think. A curfew normally means they suspend your right to free assembly and so forth, and makes it legal for the police to go “you look like you are up to no good. You’re nicked, now get in the paddywagon or else”.
So the police make the decision as to whether you are a potential rioter or an innocent person. Since this would mostly translate into white=no problem, not white=arrested they might bust a few token others so as to look impartial, but I doubt very much whether they would go round rounding up everyone.
The whole bit about suspending rights and so on also means that curfews are pretty unpopular with those subjected to them, which is why they don’t get imposed very often - they often cause as many problems as they solve, particularly in situations like this one.
FisherQueen - I presume you are referring to the Timothy Thomas incident? I’d never even heard of it until I googled ‘Cincinnati riot’.