Macron pledges punishment for those behind the vandalism spree

France was gripped by a wave of unrest as nationwide demonstrations over soaring living costs and weakening public services spilled into rioting in what officials described as some of the worst violence seen in decades.

Hundreds of thousands of people joined largely peaceful marches in scores of cities, but violent splinter groups broke away to attack public buildings, loot luxury boutiques and supermarkets, and target police vehicles and officers.

In Limoges, the city hall was set on fire. In Marseille, black-clad protesters forced their way into City Hall and scrawled anarchic graffiti across the building. In Lyon, demonstrators set the city’s tourist office ablaze.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the government would not be “intimidated” by the violence and accused the “far-left” and criminals of fuelling the disorder just months before next year’s presidential election.

“To those who clearly want to use this violence as a ‘warm-up’ before the presidential election, I say clearly: We will not let ourselves be intimidated. No one will impose their political agenda through violence,” he wrote in a post on X.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said about 550,000 people took part nationwide. The CGT union told Reuters it put the crowd at 800,000.

Some 1,200 people were arrested in connection with the protests, Lecornu said during an evening visit to affected sites.

The CGT union told Reuters it estimated protesters at 800,000 people.

French police, demonstrators in stand-off on Paris street

President Emmanuel Macron promised that those responsible for the attacks would be tracked down, prosecuted and punished.

“We will all stand united against the sowers of chaos, who only seek to undermine our institutions and prevent those who peacefully express their demands from doing so,” he wrote in a post on X.

On the ground, protesters said the marches were mostly calm and blamed much of the destruction on troublemakers who came prepared to smash property and provoke clashes with police.

Many demonstrators carried placards denouncing the police, the president and the wealthy.

“We are fighting because the cost of living is too harsh, because the price of fuel is too high, because high school pupils are being violently attacked and hurt all over the country just for trying to protest and ask for more teachers and decent learning conditions,” said Lola, a 19-year-old protester in Paris.

Most of the day’s gatherings began around midday, though some groups assembled earlier than the official start time.

Elsewhere in Europe, smaller protests were reported in Belgium, Portugal and Italy as the cost-of-living squeeze deepens, while demonstrators in Albania again took to the streets over alleged government corruption, a lack of ‌jobs and poor education standards.

A fire breaks out at a demonstration this evening in Paris, France

Protesters hold a banner reading ‘The people will win’ as they stand on the roof of a building during a demonstration in Montpellier

Crowds protest in Montpellier where a banner reading ‘the people will win’ is seen above

Protesters stand behind a fire during clashes prior to the start of a protest in Marseille

In parts of Paris, police fired tear gas as they fell back from mostly young protesters, many dressed in black and wearing hoodies, masks and goggles to shield themselves from the gas.

Rioters attempted to force their way into the Galeries Lafayette department store, vandalised banks, ransacked a Lacoste store and other boutiques, and looted an SFR mobile phone shop.

Throughout the day, protesters set fires to objects in the street, including numerous cars.

Yellow Vest movement recalled

The current protest wave in France began last month in high schools in Paris’ working-class northern suburbs, where frustration over teacher shortages and run-down facilities broadened into a wider campaign focused on inequality, public spending and living standards.

In Paris, some demonstrators wore high-visibility vests and blocked streets, scenes that evoked the Yellow Vest movement from President ⁠Macron’s previous term.

Organisers and officials said the latest marches drew larger crowds than the Yellow Vest peak, though turnout remained well below the mass mobilisation of 2023 against Mr Macron’s pension overhaul.

Mr Macron is now in the closing phase of his ⁠presidency, navigating a fractured political landscape as economic pressures intensify.

France’s attempts to rein in public debt have not calmed investors, sending government borrowing costs to their highest level in more than two decades.

Protesters, some with a yellow vest, gather amid tear gas smoke near Place de la Republique in Paris

French Republican Security Corps detain a protester during clashes in Marseille

Protesters gather at ‘Monument a la Republique’ during demonstrations in Paris

Police tactics have come under renewed scrutiny after demonstrators were injured, including a teenager who lost a hand after picking up a stun grenade.

The police watchdog is investigating at least two dozen allegations of police violence.

Lecornu said more than 900 police officers had also been injured in earlier protests.

Nunez said one person lost his hand during clashes with police today, while French media reported he tried to pick up a stun grenade.

The UNSA police union posted a video on X showing crowds striking police vans with clubs and bricks at multiple locations.

Warning that forces were nearing exhaustion, the union said officers were being pushed to the limit.

“Today again, in every corner of France, our colleagues are being used as punching bags. Pelted with stones, injured, trapped in real ambushes,” the union said.

“Let everyone take responsibility: this cannot go on indefinitely. The rope is stretched to its maximum.”