French President Emmanuel Macron has appealed for calm after the country experienced one of its worst outbreaks of unrest in years, with thousands arrested and businesses looted or damaged during protests over rising living costs and declining public services.
Fresh clashes erupted in Paris and Marseille on Sunday as riot police intervened to prevent protesters from ransacking businesses.
The violence followed nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, which escalated into riots, leaving a town hall in flames, shops pillaged and buildings covered in graffiti as violent groups clashed with police.
“Looking at these images, we have all asked ourselves: What was going through their minds? How can French people do this to France?” Macron said in a televised address.
“Nothing justifies it, nothing explains it, nothing excuses it. Tonight, we all feel anger and shame,” he added.
Macron acknowledged that peaceful protesters had legitimate grievances, stressing that their actions should not be confused with those seeking to cause destruction.
However, he stopped short of declaring a state of emergency, as demanded by some right-wing politicians. He said the government would allow regional officials to ban demonstrations where necessary to protect public buildings and businesses.
The unrest has highlighted growing public anger towards Macron, whose presidency is due to end in 2027 after a decade increasingly marked by social discontent, economic weakness and mounting national debt.
French authorities blamed the violence on far-left groups and criminals allegedly responsible for instigating the looting.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said one protester died after suffering a cardiac arrest during demonstrations in Paris on Saturday. Police arrested 2,400 people nationwide, while nearly 1,000 officers were injured, he added.
On Sunday afternoon, police clashed with protesters and fired tear gas at Place de la Republique in Paris, where piles of bicycles were set alight. A Reuters witness reported seeing several hundred demonstrators in the area.
A major clean-up operation was also under way in cities across France, from Lille in the north to Marseille in the south. In Bordeaux, a masked group reportedly invaded the local prefect’s residence.
Dutch entrepreneur Tije De Boer, who was visiting Paris with his children, described the situation as resembling a war zone. He said the unrest had forced his family to evacuate their hotel near Place de la Republique.
More than 500,000 people took part in marches across dozens of cities on Saturday, as a month-long student movement merged with wider public anger over rising living costs and deteriorating public services.
Although hundreds of thousands demonstrated peacefully, violent groups targeted public buildings, looted luxury boutiques and supermarkets, and attacked police vehicles and officers.
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, a leading contender in next year’s presidential election, also called for calm, warning against allowing France to become accustomed to scenes of destruction.
“Violence is not an opinion. Destruction is not a form of expression. And chaos cannot serve as a project for France,” she said in a video address.
Meanwhile, left-wing France Unbowed presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon said Macron needed to respond to the demands of protesting secondary school students.
In Limoges, a fire destroyed the town hall’s clock tower, evoking memories of the 2019 blaze that devastated Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Mayor Guillaume Guerin told Reuters that the city had not received sufficient national police reinforcements. He said those inside the town hall had feared for their lives during what he described as a deliberate attempt to burn down the building.
Guerin threatened to resign if the city failed to receive the funding needed to repair the damage.
Economy Minister Roland Lescure pledged support for affected business owners, saying those responsible for the destruction would be held accountable and required to pay for the damage.
Carrefour chief executive Alexandre Bompard told French broadcaster BFMTV that 50 of the retailer’s outlets had been damaged, including 20 that were looted. The resulting losses were estimated to run into tens of millions of euros.
