French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation Sunday night as mostly peaceful anti-government protests turned violent, setting government buildings on fire, leaving one police officer and a protester dead and communities reeling from the most violent night of violence in recent years.
President Macron said those who damaged property or took part in the riots would be subject to the fullest force of the law.
“Those who destroyed must pay the price,” President Macron said. “Those who plundered must pay back. Those who tried to destroy the Republic will be held accountable.”
President Macron blamed the violence on “extreme left-wing demagogues joined by many delinquents.”
“Looking at these images, we all wondered: What went into it? How could the French do that to France?”
“I can’t justify anything, I can’t explain anything, I can’t excuse anything,” Macron said. “Tonight, we all feel both anger and shame.”
The president said the government should listen to the people’s grievances, adding that many demonstrators were not taking part in the violence.
“Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of our compatriots took to the streets to express their legitimate claims,” President Macron said. “The latter should never be confused with those who committed acts of vandalism and vandalism.”
President Macron said he had asked the government to convene stakeholders, including students, teachers and trade unionists, this week to discuss “concrete proposals”.
Streets and stores in Paris damaged by looting and fire during anti-government protests.
At least two people were killed in connection with riots and protests over the weekend. French Interior Minister Laurent Nunes announced that a 22-year-old police officer had died after being “hit by a third party’s vehicle” in the city of Nantes, about 400 miles southwest of Paris.
A protester died of “cardiopulmonary arrest” just north of Paris, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported Sunday, citing Paris police headquarters.
Nunez said police had detained more than 2,000 people, adding that more than 600 officers were injured.
Scenes unfolded again on Sunday as police fired tear gas into the sacred Place de la République, where dozens of people gathered in response to messages on social media calling for “the movement to continue”, BFMTV reported. In the central city of Limoges, a video showed the 143-year-old town hall set on fire and its spire collapsing on Saturday. In Marseille, masked protesters dressed all in black broke into City Hall and desecrated the building, and in Lyon, demonstrators set the city’s tourist information center on fire.
According to BFMTV, parliamentarians and local officials have increasingly criticized the government’s enforcement plans, and French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is scheduled to meet with the mayors of Paris, Lyon and Marseille, who have called for further steps to repair the damage.
As protests waned Saturday night in Paris, police responded with tear gas and batons in narrow streets as groups of young people looted and torched shops. Alexandre Bompard, CEO of retail giant Carrefour, said in a social media post on Sunday that about 1,500 stores across the country have been affected by the violence.
More than 600 police officers were injured, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunes wrote in a post on X on Sunday, warning that “nothing can justify” the unrest. Earlier this weekend, Lecorne also condemned the “unacceptable level of violence”.
The destruction followed largely peaceful protests stemming from mass student-led rallies that hit parts of France last month, sparking a widespread movement against destroyed schools, rising living costs and government inaction. The rally has become a symbol of long-simmering, intergenerational anger among people who say their demands for social and political change are not being met by a negligent government.
Nunez said about 550,000 protesters took to the streets across France on Saturday, including 110,000 in Paris. Organizers say a much larger crowd turned out.
“There is an accumulation of wealth and power that is completely out of control,” one protester named Pauline told CNN in Paris on Saturday.
“We are also here to support the young people. It’s a win, but in the bigger picture it’s not going in the right direction,” the 36-year-old added.
Another demonstrator complained of “deterioration of democracy” and “concentration of power” under Macron’s leadership. “There are billionaires who control the media,” Louise, 38, told CNN. “We are fighting to change the situation.”
President Macron accused “those who sowed chaos” of disrupting peaceful protests and warned late Saturday that “those who destroyed and attacked (police) prefectures and businesses, and even looted city halls, will be prosecuted and punished.”
“We will not back down in the face of rioters and those who have come to attack law enforcement,” the Paris police prefecture, which oversees Paris police, emergency services and various other administrative departments, said in a statement, adding that its officers “stand their ground with courage and professionalism.”
The police response to weeks of protests has come under scrutiny. Earlier this week, the reaction left a 14-year-old boy with serious injuries, including a broken jaw. Another police officer was caught on camera putting the girl in a headlock in northwest Alencon, a practice that is now prohibited by law.
A protester in the city of Saint-Étienne, about 40 miles southwest of Lyon, lost his hand during a march on Saturday, a police source told BFMTV.
This is the second reported case of a demonstrator losing a hand in the current wave of student protests.
Police have temporarily suspended the use of one type of stun grenade after a student in the northeastern city of Lens reportedly picked up a grenade and lost his hand earlier this month. The ban still allowed police to use several types of grenades, but has now been revoked.
Overall, authorities said the “vast majority of individuals” demonstrated peacefully on Saturday, according to BFMTV.
In a post on X, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left La France Insemeise party, stressed that the majority of Sunday’s demonstrators expressed their views peacefully. “News channels are filled with footage of violence in dozens of cities, but tens of thousands of people are calmly mobilizing and everything is unfolding peacefully. Two worlds, two realities.”
Young activists also led solidarity protests in Belgium, Albania and Italy, and police arrested more than 70 people for identification in Milan on Sunday, CNN affiliate Sky TG24 reported.
Reuters reported on Sunday that police and stone-throwing demonstrators in Milan clashed for the second day, with law enforcement firing tear gas and water cannon. SkyTG24 shared a video from a Milan supermarket showing windows smashed and items scattered on the floor after the looting.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the looting in a statement posted on social media and said he would convene a meeting in Rome on Monday to “consider further measures against those who take advantage of legal demonstrations to cause violence and disorder.”
The wave of protests in France has its roots in the country’s public school system. Earlier this fall, French high school students organized sporadic protests demanding smaller class sizes, increased spending on teachers, investment in infrastructure designed to withstand the climate crisis, and an end to police violence against young people.
Over the past 15 years, rising birth rates and funding cuts have increased the number of students but reduced the number of teachers in the classroom. French Education Minister Edouard Jeffrey has held numerous meetings with student protesters in recent weeks, but no agreement has yet been reached.
This story has been updated with additional information.
