1,200 arrested and 150 police officers injured.. France assesses the damage

France is assessing the scale of the damage it sustained a day after waves of violence, looting, and chaos engulfed a protest scene involving hundreds of thousands of demonstrators decrying the high cost of living, just six months ahead of 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 those inciting unrest. According to AFP correspondents, the riots were more severe than those seen during the 2023 protests and the “Yellow Vests” demonstrations of 2018 and 2019. In Paris, as in the streets of major cities, hundreds of businesses and shops were targeted, with debris and burnt motorcycle frames covering entire streets. Local authorities stated that “entire streets were systematically vandalized.” AFP reporters in Paris reported that small groups of young men carried out organized looting, with individuals disabling 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 grand 19th-century building, according to local authorities. Authorities said they had detained 1,200 people and that 150 officers were injured in clashes with protesters.