Macron vows action against rioters after France protests leave trail of destruction

French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday (18 October) vowed to hold accountable those involved in rioting and looting during nationwide protests over rising living costs and poor conditions in schools, as police arrested at least 1,800 people.

"Those who looted will have to pay back for the damage, and those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable," Macron said in a televised address to the nation, expressing public "anger" and "shame" over the violence.

He blamed the unrest on "insurrectionist elements from radical far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals".

Macron had earlier held an emergency meeting with senior government officials following Saturday's violence, when masked groups set fires and attacked public buildings, including city halls, in several cities.

He said he had instructed prefects to work with mayors to protect public buildings and businesses in the coming weeks, including by banning demonstrations when necessary.

In Limoges, a city in central France, fire engulfed the 19th-century City Hall, causing its roof to collapse and nearly destroying the building.

Hundreds of protesters gathered again at Paris' Place de la République on Sunday amid a heavy police presence. Officers used tear gas as tensions flared, with small groups attempting to set bicycles and rubbish bins on fire.

"The right to protest is a fundamental right. Deliberately and collectively sowing disorder through violence is not," Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez wrote on X, referring to the looting of hundreds of businesses in cities including Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux.

Authorities estimated that around 5,50,000 people participated in demonstrations across France, while organisers put the figure at about 8,00,000.

The protests followed calls from labour unions, student organisations and activists seeking to revive the "yellow vest" movement, which emerged in 2018 to protest social injustice.

Large demonstrations in France are often marred by violence on the fringes of otherwise peaceful marches, resulting in clashes with police. The number of arrests reported on Sunday approached the nearly 2,000 recorded nationwide during a single day of yellow vest protests in December 2018.

One person died of a heart attack, Paris police said in a statement without providing further details. The Paris prosecutor's office said it was investigating the death.

Parisians shocked by destruction

Dislodged cobblestones, shattered shopfronts and broken glass littered the area around Place de la République yesterday. Looting and damage were also reported in other tourist and shopping districts.

Paris police said 855 people had been arrested in the capital region, while the city's prosecutor's office reported that 557 remained in police custody.

"I am actually stunned by the level of destruction and violence that was expressed," said Marie Peyreigne, a 57-year-old government employee, questioning what had led to the chaos.

Residents surveying the damage photographed the partially dismantled base of the square's central monument, a statue of Marianne, a symbol of France.

Jean Foissy, 74, said he had intended to join the protest but encountered "a wall of riot police and fires everywhere" and returned home.

"I was very scared," he said, adding that the destruction had left him deeply upset as a lifelong Parisian.

Margaux Eude, 26, said she supported the protest movement but had not expected the situation to escalate so severely.

"It's the troublemakers who came, and it breaks my heart because it delegitimizes the movement," she said.

Political leaders trade accusations

Political leaders across the political spectrum sought to use the fallout from Saturday's riots to their advantage ahead of next spring's presidential election.

Far-right leader and presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen criticised Macron's centrist government as "exhausted, disoriented and seemingly incapable of doing anything other than commenting on its own powerlessness", in a video posted on social media on Sunday.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon accused Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu of "playing with fire", arguing that the government's approach had united young people and labour unions.

Mélenchon, who joined Saturday's march in Paris, said those supporting the movement had no place in looting or destruction.

US President Donald Trump also commented on the unrest, posting "France is burning!" on his Truth Social platform and linking the violence to immigration.

"Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!" he wrote.

French authorities and police have not linked immigrants to the rioting. They have instead attributed some of the violence to radical far-left groups and others who joined the protests to loot businesses.

Hundreds of businesses looted

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire described the destruction as considerable and unprecedented in an open letter, stressing that the city must remain a place where people can demonstrate while businesses operate safely.

Police said groups of hundreds of people staged unauthorised marches across central Paris on Saturday. By late afternoon, larger groups arrived with the apparent intention of stealing and looting amid the unrest, they said.

The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon, the country's three largest cities, requested a meeting with the prime minister in the coming days, citing the extent of the damage and the seriousness of the situation.

In Marseille, some protesters briefly forced their way into the City Hall lobby, while a group of hooded and masked people damaged a police station. In Lyon, a fire broke out inside a tourist office.

In Limoges, a group of what local authorities described as radical troublemakers broke into City Hall while elected officials, employees, security personnel and members of the public were inside.

"Despite the presence of so many people, they deliberately set the building on fire. It is an extremely serious and unspeakable act," said Maurice Barate, prefect of the Haute-Vienne region.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor's office in Mulhouse, eastern France, opened an investigation after a 17-year-old girl was injured during the protests and lost an eye. Another investigation was launched on Saturday after a young protester lost a hand in Saint-Etienne.

The injuries have renewed scrutiny of police use of grenades and other riot-control weapons during recent demonstrations.