On Sunday, France was examining the extent of the damage it had suffered after a day of violence, looting, and chaos that covered a protest scene in which hundreds of thousands participated, denouncing the high cost of living, six months before the presidential elections.
In the face of mounting social tension, and in a state of government impotence due to the lack of a parliamentary majority, the government pledged to deal firmly with the rioters.
The riots were more severe than in the 2023 protests and the “yellow vest” protests in 2018 and 2019, according to what Agence France-Presse reporters noted.
In Paris, as on the streets of major cities, hundreds of establishments and shops were targeted, and entire streets were covered in rubble and the burning carcasses of motorcycles. Local authorities said that “entire streets were systematically destroyed.”
Agence France-Presse correspondents in Paris reported that small groups of young men were carrying out looting operations in an organized manner, as their members, wearing masks and gloves, disabled the surveillance cameras before smashing the glass facades of the stores and storming them.
In Marseille (south), Lille (north), and Bordeaux (southwest), demonstrators stormed and vandalized municipal and provincial buildings. As for Limoges (central), a fire destroyed a large part of the municipal building, a huge edifice dating back to the nineteenth century, according to local authorities.
French President Emmanuel Macron pledged, through the “X” platform, to pursue and punish “everyone who committed acts of sabotage, attacked institutions or companies, or participated in acts of looting.”
The authorities said that they arrested 1,200 people on Saturday, and that 150 security personnel were injured in confrontations with the demonstrators.
A number of demonstrators were also injured, some of them seriously, especially in Saint-Etienne (centre), where a 17-year-old young man's hand was amputated due to a bomb thrown by the police.
Prime Minister Sebastian Lecorno said, after a night visit by security forces: “It is a miracle that the toll was not greater this evening.”
“High cost”
The number of demonstrators was approximately 550,000, according to estimates by the Ministry of Interior, but organizers spoke of 800,000.
Regine Monferro, a social worker who was among the demonstrators, said: “I came to protest against the high cost of living, and to say that we are tired of toiling for low wages while rents are constantly rising.”
The protests and the riots that accompanied them sparked differing positions between political parties. While the head of the radical leftist “Intrepid France” party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, participated in a demonstration in Paris calling for an end to acts of violence and sabotage, the leader of the extreme right, Marine Le Pen, who is leading in the polls, confirmed that her party, the “National Rally,” stands with the police, usually because the left’s position “legitimizes violence” and pushes the country towards chaos.
Six months before the presidential elections, the intensity of the political confrontation between Mélenchon and Le Pen is intensifying, as several opinion polls indicate that they may face each other in the second round.
As the violence continued until late in the evening, especially in Paris, LeCorno warned that “the financial cost of the damage will be huge.”
The head of the Trade and Distribution Federation, Alexandre Bombard, said he expects “major economic and financial consequences.”
