France Arrest Toll Reaches 2,400 and Nearly 1,000 Police Injured as Macron Rules Out Curfew

Since the Oct. 17 protest day degenerated into rioting, the official numbers have grown sharply: the interior ministry now says nearly 2,400 people were arrested Saturday and almost 1,000 police officers and gendarmes were injured, seven of them seriously. Earlier tallies put the injured at just over 500.

Paris alone recorded 855 arrests, which police described as a record.

Sunday: smaller, but not over

The violence did not stop at midnight. On Sunday, Oct. 18, police fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of people gathered at Place de la République after social media calls for a rally that authorities said had not been approved.

Bottles and rocks were thrown at officers. Police made 42 arrests there, and at least five stores around the square were looted. Electric bikes were piled in streets and set alight, and other central Paris shops had windows smashed. City hall told many businesses to close.

In Lyon, police fought youths who tried to loot a luxury clothing store.

Damage elsewhere was extensive. In Limoges, rioters set fire to the 19th-century city hall, and its clock tower and roof collapsed. AFP reported town halls burned down and hundreds of businesses looted or damaged across the country. Looting hit Paris, Marseille and Lille.

Protests also took place in Spain, Italy and Portugal.

What Macron did and did not announce

In his televised address from the Élysée, Macron said "we all feel anger and shame" and that "nothing justifies" the violence. He separated protesters with "legitimate demands" over the cost of living and schools from "those who destroyed, smashed and looted," blaming "agitators from ultra-left fringe groups, joined by numerous delinquents."

The concrete steps were limited. Local prefects will be able to ban certain rallies "if necessary" in the coming days. Prefects and mayors are to draft measures to protect shops and civic buildings, and affected businesses are to get support.

He did not declare a state of emergency or impose a curfew.

Macron also promised "full transparency" over the police response. Tear gas and water cannon were used on crowds over the weekend, and riot police were seen hitting people with batons in several places. He gave no details of how that review would work.

Pressure on Nuñez and the political fallout

Politicians on the left and right have called for Nuñez to resign. The government appeared to be caught off guard by the scale of Saturday's violence, when state buildings were stormed and torched and roads were barricaded.

Marine Le Pen, the National Rally's presidential candidate and a leader in the polls, said the unrest showed Macron's administration was "running on fumes, exhausted and disoriented." Jean-Luc Mélenchon, head of the hard-left France Unbowed party and also a presidential candidate, warned the country could be heading toward "events that will eventually become uncontrollable."

On the right, Vincent Trémolet de Villers wrote in Le Figaro that a justice system "lenient toward criminals" and the "impunity" of far-left militias had let the violence spread. He called Macron's past rebukes of police for insufficient "empathy" an "indelible stain" and described a "technocratic monarchy" that had dismantled society's safeguards. Those are his arguments, and the government disputes the premise that the state failed to protect order.

Macron, who cannot run again, said "our country deserves a fine presidential election," with debate "with the parties, rather than in the streets with violence." The vote is only months away.

Two different crowds

The Saturday protests were not one event. Unions, Yellow Vests and school students who have marched for four weeks joined forces to protest fuel prices, the cost of living and decaying public services including schools. BBC reporting put the turnout at about 550,000, and the marches were largely peaceful, attended by parents, teachers and grandparents.

Separately, masked groups moved between locations in Paris, Bordeaux, Nice and Marseille, burning and barricading and clashing with police. Looters then went after shopfronts, and some appeared to be children, according to The Guardian's reporting from Paris.

That split is the core of Macron's argument that grievances and violence can be handled separately. The people whose schools and wages started this have not been given a concrete policy answer in his address.

US President Donald Trump has weighed in, blaming immigration for the unrest.

What comes next

The open questions are these. Prefects have the power to ban gatherings but have not announced any bans. Nuñez's job is under fire from both flanks, and Macron has not said whether he will keep him. And the promised review of police conduct has no named lead, timeline or scope.