Chaos in protests throughout France: one dead, more than 1,200 arrested, 150 police officers injured, looting and fires...

This Saturday, France experienced a day of social protests throughout the country supported by different groups - students, 'yellow vests' or farmers - which led to one of the worst riots and violent scenes remembered in that country since the 'yellow vest' demonstrations of 2018. The chaos, clashes with the police and looting have caused one death and 1,200 arrests, while 150 police and gendarmes have been arrested. injured. The French Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has stated that behind this violence there is a political maneuver.

In an appearance before the press shortly before midnight on Saturday during an outing to express his support for the forces of order, Lecornu indicated that his Minister of Justice, Gerald Darmanin, has instructed prosecutors to request provisional detention for those detained.

He justified these instructions because those arrested presented "particularly violent and dangerous profiles."

"You cannot allow a minority to destroy and always be the same ones who pay," he added after having emphasized that in Paris there had been attempts to attack "the centers of power" such as the Elysee palace, Matignon, which is the official residence of the prime minister, or the National Assembly.

"Therefore it is clearly a political maneuver that accepts violence," he added before stressing that "we will not allow ourselves to be intimidated."

The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon, three of the cities most affected by the destruction and looting, have requested a meeting with Lecornu early next week, "given the magnitude of the damage and the seriousness of the situation" related to the violence, vandalism and looting that occurred in their cities on Saturday.

"We demand a precise diagnosis that explains the chain of events that led to this situation. This cannot and must not happen again," wrote socialist Emmanuel Grégoire (Paris), left-wing independent Benoît Payan (Marseille) and environmentalist Grégory Doucet (Lyon) in a joint statement.

The three elected officials affirmed that they include all the mayors of the affected municipalities in their initiative.

The demonstrations that took place throughout the country with a long list of demands and called by a varied conglomerate of groups, starting with students, but also members of the 'yellow vests' or public service employees, gathered 550,000 people, according to the Government and up to more than 800,000, according to the organizers.

A massive attendance (there were 110,000 in Paris alone, according to the Ministry of the Interior), which greatly exceeded the expectations of the Executive, which on the eve of this day had indicated that there would be at most 150,000 throughout the country.