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French courts have jailed 217 people after convicting them in fast-track trials linked to last weekend’s riots, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Thursday.
Speaking outside Fleury-Merogis prison near Paris, Darmanin said about 2,700 people had been detained since Saturday, with more than 1,000 appearing in court.
Of those who went before the courts, 217 had been sentenced to prison, with the number continuing to rise, he said.
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Darmanin said about half of those jailed had no previous criminal record and were generally men aged between 18 and 25.
“This shows that prosecutors and judges are imprisoning people who, until now, were not known to the judiciary and are first offenders. It shows that the decisions of the judiciary are being applied in an extremely firm way,” he said.
Darmanin has backed expedited trials to clear the backlog of cases and deter further violence, as new protests over grievances including the rising cost of living are planned for this weekend.
The justice minister has faced criticism from some lawyers, who accused the judiciary of adopting an overly repressive approach.
France, like many European countries, faces problems with prison overcrowding but Darmanin said the solution was not “to imprison fewer people, but to create more space in prison”.
As of September 1, French prisons held 90,020 inmates, significantly above their capacity of 63,348 places and a new record, according to Justice Ministry figures.
