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France is assessing on Sunday the scale of the damage it sustained after a day of violence, looting, and chaos that overshadowed a protest scene in which hundreds of thousands participated to denounce the high cost of living, six months before the presidential elections.
Facing escalating social tension and in light of governmental paralysis due to the lack of a parliamentary majority, the government has pledged to deal firmly with rioters.
The riots were more intense than those during the 2023 protests and the "Yellow Vests" protests in 2018 and 2019.
In Paris, as in the streets of major cities, hundreds of institutions and shops were targeted, and debris and the frames of burnt motorcycles covered entire streets. Local authorities said that "entire streets were systematically vandalized."
Small groups of young people carried out the looting in an organized manner, as individuals wearing masks and gloves disabled surveillance cameras before smashing shop windows and breaking into them.
In Marseille (south), Lille (north), and Bordeaux (southwest), protesters stormed and vandalized municipal and prefectural buildings. In Limoges (center), a fire destroyed a large part of the town hall, a massive 19th-century edifice, according to local authorities.
French President Emmanuel Macron pledged via the X platform to pursue and punish "everyone who committed acts of vandalism, attacked institutions or companies, or participated in looting."
Authorities said they arrested 1,200 people on Saturday, and that 150 security personnel were injured in the confrontations with protesters.
A number of protesters were also injured, some seriously, particularly in Saint-Étienne (center), where a 17-year-old youth had his hand amputated due to a grenade thrown by the police.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said after a nocturnal visit to security forces, "It is a miracle that the toll was not higher this evening."
"A heavy cost"
The number of protesters reached nearly 550,000 according to Interior Ministry estimates, but organizers speak of 800,000.
Régine Monfroy, a social worker who was among the protesters, said, "I came to protest against the high cost of living, and to say that we are tired of working hard for low wages while rents are constantly rising."
The protests and the accompanying riots sparked mixed reactions among political parties. While the head of the radical left-wing "France Unbowed" party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, participated in a demonstration in Paris calling for distancing from acts of violence and vandalism, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who leads the polls, asserted that her party, the "National Rally," stands with the police, considering that the left's position "legitimizes violence" and pushes the country toward chaos.
Six months before the presidential elections, the intensity of the political confrontation is rising between Mélenchon and Le Pen, whom several opinion polls indicate are likely to face each other in the second round.
With violence continuing until late in the evening, especially in Paris, Lecornu warned that "the financial cost of the damages will be heavy."
The head of the Trade and Distribution Union, Alexandre Bompard, said he expects "significant economic and financial consequences."
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