“There was clearly a lack of police resources,” laments the first deputy mayor of Paris, after the scenes of looting and clashes on Saturday

“There was clearly a lack of resources in the capital,” laments Sunday October 18 on franceinfo Lamia El Aaraje, first deputy mayor of Paris, after the scenes of chaos and looting that occurred on the sidelines of the social mobilization on Saturday.

“Obviously, yes, the police were overwhelmed, particularly in certain places,” she describes. On Saturday, the mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon asked to be received by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu at the start of the week, "faced with the extent of the damage and the seriousness of the situation". They have not yet received a response, assures Lamia El Aaraje on Sunday morning.

Paris is in a situation of “total disrepair”, after a “level of violence never seen before”, she continues. "We witnessed scenes of methodical looting which have nothing to do with social demands, nothing to do with the thousands of demonstrators who marched peacefully throughout the afternoon. It's absolutely dramatic."

“What we saw was a deliberate desire to try to damage a certain number of public facilities, and in particular institutional buildings, a deliberate desire to loot, to ransack, to destroy.”

Lamia El Aaraje, first deputy at Paris town hall on franceinfo

“We cannot tolerate the Republic being attacked in this way,” insists Lamia El Aaraje. "There is a fundamental difference between the right to demonstrate, to which we are extremely attached [...] and on the other hand, scenes of chaos organized by people who came specifically to pillage, to ransack the city, to attack the institutions", she adds, citing in particular "the town hall of the 10th arrondissement which was attacked with people who wanted to get inside".