France suffered its worst unrest in years this weekend, ahead of a crucial government budget vote, as nationwide protests over soaring living costs and declining public services turned violent.
Demonstrations turned violent on Saturday, with clashes between gangs and police in cities across the country, with around 2,400 people arrested, stores looted and damaged and buildings covered in graffiti, the Interior Ministry said. According to the ministry, about 1,000 police officers and military police were injured.
President Emmanuel Macron, whose final months in office have become increasingly defined by growing political, financial and social discontent, has ordered a review into whether there were shortcomings in intelligence gathering and police preparedness, and this week called on the government to convene students, teachers, parliamentarians, trade unions and business leaders to develop “concrete proposals” to deal with the crisis.
The unrest comes as Prime Minister Sébastien Lecorne’s minority government seeks fiscal savings of 54 billion euros ($61 billion) in the 2027 budget to reduce a growing budget deficit. Parliament is scheduled to formally vote on the first part of the bill on Tuesday.
France has struggled to rein in spending in recent years, with its debt burden rising to a record 3.6 trillion euros (119% of GDP) in the second quarter, and servicing costs rising amid soaring global interest rates.
About 550,000 people marched in many cities on Saturday, including 110,000 in Paris, authorities said. The latest wave of demonstrations follows a month of student protests over teacher shortages and school conditions, and comes against a backdrop of widespread union anger. While hundreds of thousands of people protested peacefully, violent unarmed groups targeted public buildings, looted stores, and attacked police.
“Looking at these images, we all asked ourselves: What was going through their heads? How could the French do this to France?” Macron said in a televised address Sunday night.
“There is nothing that justifies this, there is no explanation or excuse,” he said, pledging an “uncompromising” response to “the instigators of far-left fringe groups that include many delinquents.”
He stopped short of declaring a state of emergency or imposing a curfew, but said governors and mayors would be allowed to ban certain gatherings if necessary to protect public buildings and local businesses.
The 143-year-old city hall in Limoges, central France, was set on fire and largely destroyed after looters smashed windows in an arson attack. “There was a clear and premeditated intention to set City Hall on fire, and those inside feared for their lives,” a shaken Mayor Guillaume Guerin told Reuters on Sunday. Demonstrators broke into Marseille city hall and Lyon’s tourist information center was set on fire.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Sunday that hundreds of stores had suffered significant property damage, and Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said up to 100 stores had been looted.
Police said in a statement that one protester died of cardiac arrest during the demonstrations in Paris, without providing further details. On Sunday afternoon, police fired tear gas and stun grenades and set a bicycle on fire to break up a rally in Paris’ Place de la République.
The country’s Economy Minister Laurent Lescure pledged the government’s support for business owners who suffered losses in the riots. “Those who damaged property will pay, repair the damage and be held accountable for their intent to cause chaos,” Reuters reported, citing the statement.
Far-right opposition leader Marine Le Pen, a front-runner in next year’s presidential election, said the unrest showed Macron’s government was “smoked, exhausted and disoriented.” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a far-left leader who is also running for president, said Macron needed to respond to the demands of the protesting high school students and that the country could be headed for “a situation that eventually spirals out of control.”
