Communities across France were reeling on Sunday following one of the most violent nights of unrest in recent years, after protests over the cost of living and public services investment descended into rioting leaving government buildings torched, one protester dead, and more than 500 police officers injured.
Police detained 1,800 people after a series of peaceful protests across the country turned violent as night fell on Saturday.
One protester died just north of Paris following a cardiorespiratory arrest, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported on Sunday, citing the Paris Police headquarters.
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In the central city of Limoges, the 143-year-old town hall was set ablaze on Saturday, with video showing its spire collapsing. In Marseille, masked protesters dressed all in black broke into city hall and defaced the building, and in Lyon, protesters torched the citys tourist office.
Lawmakers and regional officials launched mounting criticism over the governments law enforcement plan, BFMTV said, with French Prime Minister Sbastien Lecornu set to meet the mayors of Paris, Lyon and Marseille who called for greater reinforcement to repair the damage.
President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation in a TV broadcast on Sunday evening.
As night fell in Paris on Saturday, groups of young people looted shops and started fires as protests wound down, prompting police to respond with tear gas and baton charges in the narrow streets.
More than 500 police officers have been injured, Frances Interior Minister Laurent Nunez posted on X on Sunday, warning that nothing can justify the unrest. Earlier this weekend, Lecornu also condemned unacceptable levels of violence.
The destruction followed what had been largely peaceful protests, which have grown out of sweeping student-led rallies that gripped parts of France last month, sparking a broader movement against crumbling schools, the spiking cost of living, and perceived government inaction. The rallies have become emblematic of long-simmering, intergenerational anger among people who say their calls for social and political change are going unmet by negligent governments.
Some 550,000 protesters hit the streets across France, including 110,000 in Paris, Nunez said on Saturday. Organizers said far more people turned out.
Theres an accumulation of wealth and power thats completely out of control, one protester, who gave her name as Pauline, told CNN in Paris on Saturday.
Were also here to support the youth. There are victories, but if we look at the bigger picture, its not going in the right direction, the 36-year-old added.
Another demonstrator complained of less democracy and a concentration of power under President Emmanuel Macrons leadership. There are billionaires who control the media, Louise, 38, told CNN. We are fighting to change things.
Macron slammed sowers of chaos for interfering with peaceful protests, and warned late on Saturday that those who have broken, attacked (police) prefectures, as well as businesses, looted even our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished.
We do not back down in the face of rioters and those whove come to attack law enforcement, said the Paris Police Prefecture the body that oversees the Paris Police Force, emergency services and various other administrative departments adding that its staffers stood their ground with courage and professionalism.
Two worlds, two realities
The police response to the weeks of protest has come under scrutiny. Earlier in the week, that response had left a 14-year-old boy with a fractured jaw. Another police officer was captured on camera using a headlock on a girl in the northwestern area of Alenon, an action now prohibited by law.
A protester in the city of Saint-tienne, about 40 miles southwest of Lyon, lost his hand during a march there on Saturday, a police source told BFMTV.
This is the second reported instance of a demonstrator losing their hand in the current wave of student protests.
A student in the northeastern city of Lens lost his hand after reportedly picking up a grenade earlier this month, prompting the temporary suspension of one type of stun grenade by police. That ban, which still allowed police to use several different grenades, has now been rescinded.
Overall, authorities said that the vast majority of individuals had demonstrated peacefully on Saturday, according to BFMTV.
Posting on X, Jean-Luc Mlenchon, leader of the far-left La France Insoumise Party, emphasized that the majority of demonstrators on Sunday had made their point peacefully. While news channels are flooded with images of violence in dozens of cities, everything is unfolding peacefully with tens of thousands of people calmly mobilized. Two worlds, two realities.
Youth activists led solidarity protests in Belgium, Albania and Italy on Saturday as well.
Earlier this fall, high school students in France organized scattered protests demanding reduced class sizes, increased spending on teachers, investments in infrastructure designed to withstand the climate crisis and an end to police violence against young people.
In the past decade and a half, a rise in fertility coupled with funding cuts has led to more students, but fewer teachers in classrooms. The French Education Minister Edouard Geffray has met with student protesters multiple times in recent weeks, although an agreement is yet to be made.
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