Nationwide protests on Saturday, 17 October, against rising living costs, poor conditions in public schools and recent police violence drew more than half a million people, mostly peaceful according to AP. Small groups set fires and looted shops in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and other cities. The disorder flared again on Sunday evening, 18 October, when people burned trash bins, bicycles and other objects on the streets and looted more businesses. Authorities said groups numbering in the hundreds deliberately targeted police and public buildings such as municipal offices. In Limoges, central France, flames swept through the 19th-century town hall, its roof collapsed and the structure was left almost wrecked.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez offered his resignation over the weekend's violence. The Elysée said on Monday that President Emmanuel Macron rejected the offer, judging that police needed the minister's continued command during the emergency. Macron acknowledged shortcomings in forecasting and intelligence, and told Nuñez to make openly clear where planning and intelligence work fell short before the unrest. He also asked for new policing methods on the streets to be introduced as quickly as possible to bring the looting and barricades to an end.
Speaking to France Inter radio on Monday, Nuñez accepted personal responsibility for the situation.
“I submitted my resignation because I am responsible for everything that is happening.”
He blamed troublemakers, looters and far-left activists, and said police tactics must adapt to extremely mobile groups. He also admitted that authorities had lost control in some big cities on Saturday, with hundreds of businesses looted.
“You can't look shopkeepers in the eye when hundreds of businesses have been looted and say we haven't lost control in some of these major cities.”
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said he had asked prefects to order some curfews amid the looting and destruction, according to ANSA. In Marseille, the prefect banned any protest or gathering from noon to 8 p.m. on Monday. Marseille's official store on La Canebière, the city's best-known avenue, was damaged by looters and is temporarily closed, the club said in a statement. Lille said its city-centre store suffered extensive damage and widespread looting and will stay closed until further notice. Both shops belong to Ligue 1 clubs, which said their outlets had been vandalized during the protests.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, in an interview with the magazine Bild, described the unrest as an armed struggle against a free society and its way of life. He attributed the disorder to far-left extremists and migrant communities, and said anyone who did not say so clearly had not understood the situation. At a press briefing on Monday, European Commission home affairs spokesperson Markus Lammert said peaceful protest must be protected and that peaceful demonstrators should not be equated with people committing violence. Lammert called deliberate fires, looting and attacks on people or public buildings unacceptable, backed the efforts of French authorities and said investigations are under way at national level.
The latest government figures cited by Europa Press put arrests at almost 2,400 and the number of injured officers at more than 500. AP reported at least 2,400 people arrested across the country, so the two counts differ slightly in wording. The figures are the latest available and may change as officials update their tallies. Investigations are ongoing at national level, and the Marseille ban covered Monday only.
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Macron's office said on Monday that he refused the resignation of interior minister Laurent Nuñez and ordered faster new policing tactics. The weekend protests turned into arson and looting in several French cities, including a 19th-century city hall in Limoges.
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