Macron slams ‘unbridled’ riots in France, says ‘those who have destroyed must pay’

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday slammed the “unbridled” violence that erupted in cost-of-living protests across France, as police battled protesters and looters in new clashes in Paris.

Nearly 2,400 people were arrested Saturday in unrest that represented some of the worst urban violence in France in years, with almost 1,000 police and gendarmes injured, seven seriously, the interior ministry said.

In an address to the nation, Macron said authorities would increase security and vowed lessons would be learned from the police response. But he stopped short of announcing drastic measures, such as a state of emergency or curfew.

“Tonight, we all feel anger and shame,” Macron said, adding that there must be a distinction between protesters with “legitimate demands” and “those who destroyed, smashed, and looted.”

“Those who have destroyed must pay,” he said, vowing the government would be “uncompromising” towards the “agitators from ultra-left fringe groups, joined by numerous delinquents,” who “unleashed unbridled violence in our cities.”

AFP journalists said police Sunday fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of people gathered in a Paris square, following social media calls for a gathering that authorities said had not been approved.

Bottles and rocks were hurled at police, who made several arrests. Shops were also looted around the Place de la République square, with specialist anti-riot police deployed for the second day.

Violence also erupted Sunday in the southeastern city of Lyon, where police thwarted youths who attempted to smash the windows of a luxury clothing store.

A ‘lamentable’ address

The unrest came just months before a presidential election where the centrist Macron cannot run again and Marine Le Pen, the far-right presidential candidate for the National Rally party, is riding high in polls.

Macron said France “deserves a fine presidential election,” marked by debates “with the parties, rather than in the streets with violence.”

Le Pen said the troubles showed that Macron’s administration was “running on fumes, exhausted and disoriented.” Her top lieutenant Jordan Bardella described Macron’s speech as a “lamentable” address that showed the authorities had “nothing more to say” to France.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, head of the hard-left France Unbowed party, also running for president, urged Macron to respond to the protesters’ demands, saying young people “need this episode to reach a positive conclusion.”

Saturday’s protests had seen unions, the anti-Macron Yellow Vests movement that ruffled the early years of his presidency, and school students, who had protested for the last weeks, join forces in a show of anger at the cost of living and prospects for young people.

With images of French town halls burning and shops being looted grabbing headlines around the world, US President Donald Trump waded into the debate, blaming immigration for the unrest.

“France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country,” Trump said in a social media post.

‘All necessary lessons’

Macron vowed that top officials would “make decisions in coordination with mayors to protect our cities, public buildings, and businesses.”

“Seeing the streets of our cities ransacked in this way is unbearable,” he said, pledging “support” for businesses that suffered.

Macron vowed there would be “full transparency” over the response by security forces to the protests, after criticism that police preparations had been inadequate. Some opposition politicians have already called for the sacking of Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.

Macron said he had asked Nunez to “draw all necessary lessons,” particularly with regard to intelligence gathering and anticipation, adding he expected “clear answers.”

Meanwhile, a massive clean-up operation began in cities from Lille in the north to Marseille in the south and Strasbourg in the east to Bordeaux in the southwest, where a masked mob invaded the residence of the local prefect.

In Limoges, southwestern France, Mayor Guillaume Guerin denounced the chaos after the city’s 143-year-old town hall was set ablaze and largely destroyed in an arson attack on Saturday, drawing comparisons to the 2019 fire that devastated Paris’s Notre-Dame Cathedral.

“There was a clear, premeditated intention to burn down the town hall, and the people inside feared for their lives,” Guerin told Reuters. He threatened to resign if the city did not receive the funds needed to repair the town hall.

Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said up to 100 stores had been looted in his city, while Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan announced emergency financial aid to support those businesses impacted by the violence.

French retailer Carrefour’s CEO Alexandre Bompard told French broadcaster BFMTV that 50 of the company’s shops had been damaged, including 20 that were looted, with losses from the damage running into the tens of millions of euros.