Macron Vows Prosecutions After French Riots as Officials Give Conflicting Counts of Injured Officers

Since the student-led protests widened into a broader revolt over prices and public services, Saturday's national day of action has ended with a political response: Macron has promised prosecutions for the arson and looting.

In a post on X on Sunday, the president wrote that there is "no room for violence in our Republic." He said people who attacked government offices, businesses and town halls would be "prosecuted and punished." He said the country would stand united against what he called "sowers of chaos," and described the police as guarantors of the right to demonstrate peacefully.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said late Saturday that 1,200 people had been arrested.

Two numbers for injured police

Lecornu said 150 police officers were hurt. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez gave a lower figure: 60 law enforcement officers injured, including two taken to hospital unconscious.

No official has explained the gap. The two counts may measure different things, but neither minister has said so.

What burned, and where

In Limoges, masked protesters set fire to the 143-year-old town hall. Regional prefect Maurice Barate told AFP it was "largely lost." "The roof has collapsed on to lower floors, except the west wing, and two-thirds of the exterior has already disappeared," he said, calling it a "catastrophe for heritage."

In Marseille, demonstrators rammed the town hall door with street barriers and got inside briefly. One spray-painted an "A" for anarchy on a wall before police pushed them out.

In Paris, a march around Place de la République turned violent. Black-clad, masked rioters threw fireworks and paving stones, attacked a bank and looted a sports shop. Police answered with teargas, and officers also used water cannon during the day. A lorry was set on fire and the flames spread to a nearby building.

Along Boulevard Magenta, in a mostly working-class area, dozens of shops were broken into. Groups tried to get into the Galeries Lafayette department store, ransacked a Lacoste boutique and looted a mobile phone shop. Residents closed windows and doors against clouds of teargas.

In Lyon, the city's tourist office was set ablaze; Mayor Grégory Doucet called it "a tragedy." In Rennes, Al Jazeera correspondent Rosie Birchard was harassed by people looting shops and struck on the head by a thrown object, the network reported.

Who the government blames

Nuñez said the official demonstration was hijacked by casseurs, "opportunistic delinquents who had seen a chance to pillage and loot." He added: "We will find them and deal with them firmly." Officials also pointed to the "ultra-left" as the source of the violence. Nuñez said the state does not plan to declare a state of emergency, though he "very strongly" condemned the violence.

Hundreds of thousands marched peacefully in scores of cities, so the arson and looting came from violent fringe groups inside a much larger crowd. That is the government's line, and the street-level reporting of marches that turned violent later in the day fits it.

The grievances behind the march

The demonstrators' own complaints are not about vandalism. Protesters accuse the government of failing to address rising living costs and declining public services. Students are protesting school conditions and what they allege is excessive police force. Calls on social media to revive the gilets jaunes movement, which emerged in 2018 against social injustice, preceded Saturday's turnout.

The unrest comes amid political uncertainty ahead of the next presidential election.

What comes next

The arrests are only the first step. Whether the roughly 1,200 detentions become convictions depends on prosecutors and judges. Nuñez has promised to find and deal firmly with the looters. Lecornu has also backed a proposed "pay-the-damagers" bill that would make those responsible for destruction bear the financial cost of the damage.