France Assesses Damage and Losses After Protests in Several Cities

France is assessing the extent of the damage inflicted on the country a day after violent riots, looting, and chaos engulfed protest scenes involving hundreds of thousands of demonstrators decrying the high cost of living, just six months before the presidential elections.

Facing rising social tensions and a government paralyzed by its lack of a parliamentary majority, officials have pledged to deal firmly with rioters.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the riots were more severe than those in 2023 and the “Yellow Vests” protests of 2018 and 2019.

In Paris, as well as in the streets of major cities, hundreds of businesses and shops were targeted. Rubble and burned-out motorcycle frames covered entire streets. Local authorities stated that “entire streets were systematically vandalized.”

AFP, citing its reporters in Paris, reported that small groups of young men carried out organized looting. Individuals, wearing masks and gloves, disabled surveillance cameras before smashing shop windows and breaking in.

In Marseille (south), Lille (north), and Bordeaux (southwest), protesters stormed and vandalized municipal and departmental buildings. In Limoges (central France), a fire consumed a large part of the town hall, a massive 19th-century structure, according to local authorities.

French President Emmanuel Macron pledged via the X platform to prosecute and punish “anyone who committed acts of vandalism, attacked institutions or companies, or participated in looting.”

Authorities reported that 1,200 people were arrested on Saturday and that 150 officers were injured in clashes with protesters.

Several protesters were also injured, some seriously, particularly in Saint-Étienne (central France), where a 17-year-old youth had his hand amputated after being hit by a police grenade.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, after a nighttime visit to security forces, said it was a “miracle that the toll was not higher this evening.”

The Interior Ministry estimated the number of protesters at around 550,000, while organizers claimed the figure reached 800,000.

Regine Monfroy, a social worker who joined the protests, said, “I came to protest the high cost of living and to say that we are tired of working hard for meager wages while rent continues to rise.”

The protests and accompanying riots have sparked divergent reactions among political parties. While Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the radical left party La France Insoumise, participated in a demonstration in Paris calling for an avoidance of violence and vandalism, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who leads in opinion polls, affirmed that her party, the National Rally, stands with the police. She criticized the left’s stance as “legitimizing violence” and pushing the country toward chaos.

With the presidential elections six months away, political tensions between Mélenchon and Le Pen are intensifying. Several polls suggest they could face each other in the second round.

As violence continued late into the evening, particularly in Paris, Lecornu warned that “the financial cost of the damage will be steep.”