French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned “unbridled violence” after a day of disorder that ranks among the worst in recent years. Public buildings were set on fire, hundreds of shops were wrecked and looted, and at least 2,400 people were arrested in cities across the country.
Speaking in a televised address from the Élysée Palace, Macron asked how French people could do such things to their own country. He urged “calm and order”, said nothing could justify the violence, and added that local state officials could ban certain street gatherings if they judged it necessary.
Macron separates peaceful protesters from rioters
Macron said a clear line must be drawn between genuine, peaceful demonstrators and those who, in his words, destroy, ransack and loot. He said the first group was making legitimate demands over the cost of living and the education system.
He also criticised what he called “fractious groups from the ultra-left”, which he said had been joined by many delinquents. Around 550,000 people took part in largely peaceful protests against rising fuel prices, the cost of living and declining public services, including schools, according to the figures cited in the report.
France’s interior ministry said police had arrested about 2,400 people.
Clashes, fires and looting spread through French cities
On Saturday, state buildings were stormed and set alight, bus stops were smashed, roads were blocked with barricades, and shops were broken into and destroyed. The government appeared to have been caught off guard by the scale of the violence.
Violence flared again on Sunday. Crowds clashed with police at Place de la République in central Paris during the afternoon, and electric bikes were piled up and set alight in some streets. Groups of rioters, some dressed in black and wearing masks and balaclavas, also appeared in Marseille and other towns and cities, where some set fire to cars and buildings.
According to the AFP news agency, tear gas and stun grenades were fired at hundreds of people in Paris, and bottles and rocks were thrown at police again. Earlier, tear gas and water cannons had been used on crowds, and riot police were seen hitting people with batons in several places.
In Limoges, a fire started by rioters on Saturday gutted the ornate 19th-century city hall, and its clock tower and roof collapsed. Widespread looting was reported in Paris, Marseille and Lille, as well as in other areas.
The interior ministry said about 1,000 police officers were injured on Saturday, seven of them seriously. Student protests that began last month escalated sharply on Saturday after trade union members and other anti-government groups joined them.
Political figures call for resignation and blame extremes
Politicians on both the left and right called for Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez to resign. Macron said local prefects and mayors would draft measures to protect shops and civic buildings, and promised “full transparency” over the police response to the demonstrations.
Nuñez said demonstrating was a fundamental right, but argued that “outrages” had been committed by “several thousand far-left individuals” determined to target public buildings and confront police. He said later, they were joined by delinquents who looted and ransacked businesses in several cities.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the hard-left La France Insoumise party, attacked Nuñez and police chiefs on social media. He said they had shown complete incompetence in handling the protests and described them as specialists in organised chaos.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the hard-right National Rally party, condemned what she described as the exploitation of public anger by political forces that encourage violence. The reactions point to deep political divisions as France prepares for an election in April, which could pit the hard right against the hard left.
