Mayor of southern French town wants to introduce curfew for children
The mayor of a town in southern France says that he wants to introduce a curfew that would ban minors from being outside without an adult at night.
After several high-profile cases of teen violence including a boy who died after being beaten up outside his school on the outskirts of Paris, the French prime minister has announced a series of measures to 'crackdown on youth violence'.
But the mayor of one town in southern France wants to go one step further - saying he intends to publish on Monday a decree that includes a curfew for children.
The far-right politician Robert Ménard - mayor of the town of Beziers since 2014 - told French media over the weekend that he intends to introduce a curfew so that children "cannot be on their own, without their parents, without an adult, after 11 o'clock in the evening".
This would not be the first time that Ménard has tried to introduce a curfew.
Shortly after his election in 2014 he published a decree stating that children aged 13 and under could not be outdoors without an adult after 11pm, during weekends and the school holidays.
His measure was struck down by the Conseil d'Etat - France's highest judicial authority - and the town was ordered to pay €5,000 to the Ligue des droits de l'homme (human rights league) which had brought the case to the Conseil d'Etat.
Undeterred, Ménard over the weekend told BFM TV that he thought that the political context had changed, with increasing conversation about youth violence.
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After several high-profile cases of teen violence including a boy who died after being beaten up outside his school on the outskirts of Paris, the French prime minister has announced a series of measures to 'crackdown on youth violence'.
But the mayor of one town in southern France wants to go one step further - saying he intends to publish on Monday a decree that includes a curfew for children.
The far-right politician Robert Ménard - mayor of the town of Beziers since 2014 - told French media over the weekend that he intends to introduce a curfew so that children "cannot be on their own, without their parents, without an adult, after 11 o'clock in the evening".
This would not be the first time that Ménard has tried to introduce a curfew.
Shortly after his election in 2014 he published a decree stating that children aged 13 and under could not be outdoors without an adult after 11pm, during weekends and the school holidays.
His measure was struck down by the Conseil d'Etat - France's highest judicial authority - and the town was ordered to pay €5,000 to the Ligue des droits de l'homme (human rights league) which had brought the case to the Conseil d'Etat.
Undeterred, Ménard over the weekend told BFM TV that he thought that the political context had changed, with increasing conversation about youth violence.
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