After the 17 October looting: short-time work for damaged shops and local curfews. How activité partielle works

What was announced on 19 October

On Monday 19 October 2026, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu chaired an interministerial crisis unit in Paris following a weekend in which shops were smashed and looted in several cities on the sidelines of protests. Afterwards he announced several measures (reported by franceinfo and France 24, citing AFP):

• Curfews. The Prime Minister asked prefects to bring in partial, local curfews from Monday evening, chiefly to protect shops. The idea is targeted zones in city centres rather than whole cities: on Paris, Lecornu said nobody would put the entire city under curfew, and gave Les Halles and République as examples of areas in question. A map of the zones was promised after talks with mayors. He did not rule out a state of emergency (état d'urgence), but described curfews as the better-suited tool.
• Short-time work (chômage partiel). According to the Prime Minister, short-time work opens for affected shops from Tuesday 20 October, and staff were promised a payment equal to 100% of their income. The announcement did not say exactly who would qualify.
• Support fund. A dedicated fund is being set up to cover shopkeepers' cash-flow needs. Ministers are to set its terms after local consultations; the deadline the Prime Minister gave was Tuesday.
• Insurers. Talks have started with them to speed up damage assessments and pay advances.

Commerce minister Serge Papin put the number of affected shops at probably at least 3,000.

Note: at the time of writing these are government announcements, and we found no published document setting out how they will apply. The 100% figure is the Prime Minister's statement; the ordinary rules described below provide for less. Until the detailed terms are out, the general rules and what the employer says are the reference points.

Curfews: where to check

The Prime Minister did not impose a curfew himself; he asked prefects to do so, and they decide the exact zones, hours and duration. So the national headline does not tell you whether your street is affected. If you live or work in a big-city centre, check your département's prefecture website (an address like <département>.gouv.fr; in Paris, the Préfecture de police) and its official accounts.

What activité partielle is

Chômage partiel (officially activité partielle) is a scheme under which an employer in difficulty has the State cover part or all of staff pay for hours when there is no work. According to service-public.gouv.fr:

• The employment contract is suspended, not ended. It is not a dismissal: the employer pays the money on the usual payday.
• The employer applies, not the employee. The application goes online to the DDETS of the département. Where the cause is a disaster (sinistre) or another exceptional circumstance, it can be filed within 30 days of placing staff on the scheme; the administration replies within 15 calendar days, and in these cases silence counts as approval.
• What is normally paid. As a general rule the employee receives 60% of gross pay for each hour not worked — about 72% of net — with a floor of €9.74 and a ceiling of €33.24 per hour. A collective agreement or an employer's decision can add a top-up.
• The payslip (bulletin de paie), or a document attached to it, must show the number of hours paid, the rates applied and the amounts.
• Who it covers. Staff on French-law contracts — CDI and CDD, full- or part-time — plus temps (intérim) and several other categories. It does not cover people whose work stopped because of a collective dispute such as a strike.
• How long. Authorisation is granted for up to 3 months, renewable, within a limit of 6 months over 12 consecutive months.

What it means in practice

If you work in a shop that is closed after the looting, the rules provide that the employer handles the application. A common mistake is to assume the contract ended because the shop shut: under activité partielle it continues, it is only suspended. It makes sense to ask the employer whether you have been placed on the scheme and from what date, and to keep your payslips: they show how many hours were paid and at what rate. If the employer mentions a 100% payment, that should show on the payslip too.

If you run a shop or small business yourself, the terms of the special fund had not been announced at the time of writing; watch the government and prefecture websites.

We covered police reports and insurance claims for damage in a separate post on 18 October.

Sources: franceinfo and France 24 (AFP), 19 Oct 2026 — the announcements; service-public.gouv.fr — activité partielle rules (pages checked on 16 Oct 2026 and 13 Aug 2026).