system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How are curfews in a supposedly free country legal?

Seems like restricting people from being outside or gathering is infringing on basic human rights.
gpt
Generally, the curfews only apply to people under the age of 18 (except in special circumstances, such as a state of emergency, if curfews are implemented more broadly then).
The reason behind this being to (mainly) stop minors from doing illicit activities, which can be a whole range of things, such as gang activities, running away from home, going to inappropriate parties, so on and so forth. Also, they serve to protect the minors from any adult possibly commiting harm to them in the dark hours of the night.

And, for the record, while you have someone watching what you do constantly, and telling you what you can and can't do on a specific scale, you aren't really free. Also, if you were referring to the U.S.A., it's not a "free" country. That's a notion from the 1700/1800s that people mistakenly think still apply to this day.