PARIS — A nationwide day of marches over the cost of living and crumbling schools in France gave way to looting, arson and running fights with riot police on Saturday, and the government said Sunday that more than 1,800 people had been taken into custody.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu put the count at 1,200 arrests late Saturday, along with 150 injured police officers, and described the clashes as violence of extreme intensity. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez raised the arrest total to 1,800 on Sunday, blamed opportunistic looters for hijacking the official marches and said the government was not planning a state of emergency.
The interior ministry estimated turnout at 550,000 nationwide. The CGT labor union, one of the groups that marched, put the figure closer to 800,000.
The worst single loss came in Limoges, where masked protesters broke into the town hall, a building more than 140 years old, and set a fire that brought down much of the roof. The regional prefect called the damage a disaster for French heritage.
In Lyon, the city tourist office was burned, and police said hostile crowds kept firefighters from reaching it safely. Protesters forced their way into city hall in Marseille and vandalized offices, and town halls in Lille were also targeted. A police compound in Bordeaux was damaged.
In Paris, the main afternoon march was mostly calm, but groups of masked young men later set parked cars alight, built burning barricades around Place de la République and broke into shops. Riot police answered with tear gas, water cannon and baton charges. Stores were also emptied in Marseille, Nice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse and Strasbourg, among other cities, and an Apple store in Lille was cleaned out.
In Saint-Étienne, a teenager lost a hand to an explosive device during the unrest.
The protests grew out of weeks of demonstrations by high school students over staff shortages and run-down buildings. Trade unions and the yellow vest movement, which led fuel-price protests that began in 2018, joined Saturday’s marches. The government earlier offered 3,000 more substitute teachers, but the protests kept growing.
The unrest lands six months before France chooses a successor to President Emmanuel Macron, who said on social media that anyone who looted, wrecked businesses or attacked town halls would be prosecuted and punished. Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen accused the party of her hard-left rival Jean-Luc Mélenchon of legitimizing the violence. Mélenchon, who backed the marches, told supporters to stay away from looting while blaming police for heavy use of tear gas.
Section: More Outer Banks NC crime news
Filed under: Outer Banks NC Public Safety News
