Mobilization of October 17: 855 people arrested in the capital, “a record figure” according to the police headquarters

Shop windows broken, stores looted, cars set on fire, sirens blaring and official buildings attacked. From Paris to Marseille, from Limoges to Lyon, many streets offer a landscape of desolation when you wake up on Sunday October 18. If the day of mobilization against the “high cost of living” brought together hundreds of thousands of people on Saturday, it also ended with scenes of chaos of rare intensity. In total, 1,200 people were arrested, according to Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu; including 855 in the capital, according to the Paris police headquarters, which refers to a “record figure”. Follow our live stream.

• At least 150 police officers and gendarmes injured in clashes. “It’s a miracle that the toll is not heavier,” said Sébastien Lecornu. Furthermore, according to the police headquarters, 13 police officers and gendarmes as well as 2 firefighters were injured in the capital.

• “A level of violence that we have never seen,” laments the first deputy mayor of Paris. On franceinfo, Lamia El Araajee spoke of “methodical scenes of looting” which plunged Paris into “total disrepair”.

• Alexis Corbière asks the President of the National Assembly to hold a parliamentary commission of inquiry. "We've been seeing things since last night that we've never seen before, it's unprecedented. Well, at an unprecedented time, an unprecedented measure, reacts the Ecologist and Social MP for Seine-Saint-Denis on franceinfo. All political forces combined, we must be able to hear the actors and understand."

• “The thugs are ruining a movement that is as powerful as it is joyful,” laments Olivier Faure. In an interview with Le Parisien, the boss of the PS deplored the violence which marred the processions on Saturday. The one who lost the Social Democratic primary, however, stressed the need to modify “the doctrine of maintaining order”. “It is de-escalation that must be sought, not confrontation which encourages a game of cat and mouse with thugs who use it to justify their actions,” he underlines.

A large-scale mobilization. Some 800,000 people participated in actions and parades throughout France on Saturday, according to the results of the various organizations associated with this national mobilization, including the CGT and the Student Union. 550,000 people marched, including 110,000 in Paris, announced Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.

• The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon ask to be received by Sébastien Lecornu. “Faced with the scale of the damage and the seriousness of the situation, we ask to be received by the Prime Minister at the beginning of next week, write in a joint statement Emmanuel Grégoire, Benoît Payan and Grégory Doucet. We also demand that a precise and transparent diagnosis be established in order to understand the sequence of events which led to this situation. Such events cannot and must not happen again.”