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By Ayo Kehinde
According to the Interior Ministry, around 550,000 people took part in demonstrations across France on Saturday, including around 110,000 in Paris. Protest organizers estimate nationwide turnout was around 800,000.
France is counting the cost of widespread destruction on Sunday after mass demonstrations over the cost of living and deterioration of public services that led to riots, arson, looting and clashes with security forces across Paris and several other cities.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 1,800 people were arrested and more than 500 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters injured in Saturday’s riots, as authorities faced growing questions about the scale of the violence and the ability of security forces to contain it.
While most demonstrations were peaceful, violence erupted in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Rennes, Strasbourg, Toulouse and several other cities as groups of masked rioters attacked public buildings, confronted police, torched vehicles and looted businesses.
The destruction left parts of France waking up Sunday to burned vehicles, smashed shop windows and streets littered with broken glass and debris.
In Paris, riot police used tear gas and water cannon as the clashes intensified. Vehicles were set on fire and businesses were vandalized or looted, forcing shopkeepers and residents to begin a massive clean-up operation on Sunday.
Luxury shops and other businesses were among those damaged in the capital, while graffiti with anti-wealth slogans was sprayed on some buildings.
The violence was not limited to Paris. In Limoges, the historic town hall was ravaged by fire after rioters attacked the building. Local authorities said parts of the structure collapsed as firefighters struggled to put out the fire. Le Monde reported that Lyon’s town hall and tourist office were among the most important public buildings set on fire during the riots.
In Lyon, Mayor Grégory Doucet described the fire at the city’s tourist office as a tragedy, while authorities said hostile individuals complicated firefighters’ efforts to tame the blaze.
Marseille also witnessed serious unrest, with protesters storming the city hall. Officials later said damage inside the building was relatively limited, although the city was among several places hit by broader violence and looting.
In Bordeaux, rioters broke into and vandalized the official residence of the regional prefect, prompting the deployment of the elite police RAID unit. Violence and destruction were also reported in Lille, Nice, Rennes, Toulouse, Grenoble and other cities.
Nuñez attributed much of the organized violence to several thousand people who he described as belonging to the far left or ultra-left, along with criminals who he said exploited the demonstrations to loot businesses.
The Interior Minister said attacks on police, firefighters, government institutions and business premises could not be justified by the right to demonstrate.
President Emmanuel Macron had previously vowed that those responsible for attacks on government buildings, businesses and other institutions would be prosecuted and punished, while accusing violent groups of preventing peaceful protesters from legitimately voicing their grievances.
The violence has also intensified political pressure on the government and Nuñez, with members of both the left and far right calling for the Interior Minister’s resignation over the authorities’ handling of the unrest.
Macron was due to address the French people at 8pm local time on Sunday as the government dealt with the political fallout from the unrest.
The weekend outburst of anger followed weeks of student-led demonstrations over conditions in French schools.
Students have complained of shortages of teachers and staff, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating buildings and what they see as inadequate public investment in education.
But the movement has expanded beyond education, involving union activists, students, Yellow Vest supporters and other groups angry about fuel prices, household costs and the state of public services.
The convergence of these demands produced Saturday’s huge national mobilization, with the government estimating 550,000 participants and organizers claiming 800,000.
The violence revived memories of the Yellow Vest, or Gilets Jaunes, uprising that erupted in 2018 over proposed fuel tax increases before morphing into a broader revolt against economic inequality and the Macron government.
Le Monde said Saturday’s scenes of rioting and systematic destruction in parts of Paris were reminiscent of the violence of December 1, 2018, when the Arc de Triomphe was vandalized during one of the most explosive episodes of the Yellow Vest crisis.
The latest unrest, however, comes at a particularly delicate political moment for France, with the country heading towards a 2027 presidential election and Macron facing growing public anger over economic hardship, public services and political instability.
While the vast majority of Saturday’s hundreds of thousands of protesters were not involved in the violence, the scale of the unrest has turned what began largely as a protest over schools and the cost of living into a major political and security challenge for the French government.
On Sunday, burned vehicles, smashed shop windows and damaged public buildings became the most visible evidence of a protest movement whose underlying grievances remain unresolved, leaving Macron facing the danger that French anger over the cost of living could fuel a broader and more sustained wave of unrest.
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